European car sales fall in January, petrol cars sharply decline

Feb 24 (Reuters) – New car sales in Europe fell on an annual basis in January for the first time since June, driven by declines in major markets such as Germany, France, Belgium and Poland, according to data published by European auto lobby ACEA on Tuesday.

The crisis was hit hardest in Norway, where new vehicle registrations, an indicator of sales, fell by nearly 76% compared to the same month in 2025.

WHY IT’S IMPORTANT

Europe’s auto industry is in the midst of a major transformation, with traditional automakers struggling to compete with cheaper Chinese models and a now-overdue push to decarbonise.

They are also navigating a much more uncertain trade environment after most U.S. tariffs were ruled unlawful by the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday.

BY THE NUMBERS

According to ACEA’s data, sales in the European Union, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Norway and Iceland decreased by 3.5% to 961,382 cars in January.

Gasoline vehicle registrations fell nearly 26% from the previous January; There was a dramatic decrease of 49% in France and 30% in Germany.

During this period they went from almost a third of the market share in Europe to just over a fifth.

In contrast, battery-powered, plug-in hybrid and hybrid electric cars increased by approximately 14%, 32% and 6%, accounting for 69% of new registrations overall; this rate was higher than 59% in January 2025.

While Volkswagen, BMW, Renault and Toyota’s registrations fell by 3.8%, 5.7%, 15% and 13.4% respectively, BYD’s registrations increased by 165%.

Stellantis and Mercedes recorded gains of 6.7% and 2.8% respectively.

According to ACEA’s data, US automaker Tesla continued its downward trend with an annual decline of 17%; This marks the thirteenth month in a row that sales have decreased.

(Reporting by Javi West Larrañaga, Editing by Tomasz Janowski)