EU car market expands by 13.7% in April

Battery-electric cars maintain nearly 12% of EU market, hybrid-electric cars' share at 29.1%

By Gokhan Ergocun

ISTANBUL (AA) - The EU's car market expanded by 13.7% year-on-year in April with new registrations of 913,995 units, the European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA) revealed on Wednesday.

Among major markets, Spain saw an increase of 23.1%, Germany 19.8%, France 10.9%, and Italy 7.7%, the association stated.

"This growth can be partly explained by the fact that there were two extra sales days compared to the same month last year, when Easter holidays fell in April," ACEA said.

During the first four months of the year, new car registrations in the 27-member bloc rose by 6.6%, reaching nearly 3.7 million units.

"Solid growth was recorded in the region’s largest markets over the period, with Germany and Spain each seeing a 7.8% increase, followed by France (7%) and Italy (6.1%)," it added.

In April, battery-electric cars maintained nearly 12% of the EU car market, while hybrid-electrics rose to 29.1% from 24.9%.

"The combined share of petrol and diesel vehicles dropped to less than half the market, at 48.9%, down from 52.8%," ACEA said.

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