In April, passenger car registration in the EU increased by 17.2% YoY, totaling 803,188 units. Meanwhile, looking at the first four months of 2023, EU registration of new cars increased by 17.8% YoY overall. In Croatia in the mentioned period, passenger car registration reported a much more pronounced increase of 38.8% YoY.

In April 2023, passenger car registration in the EU increased by 17.2% YoY, totaling 803,188 units. The most significant increase reported in the EU in April by far was in Italy, where the reported increase amounted to 28.5k units, representing a 29.2% YoY increase. Italy is followed by France and Germany, where a 23.8k and 22.7k units increase can be noted, respectively (+21.9% and 12.6% YoY). Spain, which is also considered a major and significant region, noted a somewhat lower single mid-digit growth of 5.6k units (+8.2% YoY). With this said all major regions within the EU noted a strong positive development during April.

When observing the first four months of 2023, the situation is pretty similar – EU registration of new cars increased by 17.8% YoY, reaching 3.5m units registered in total. The most significant increase reported in the EU in the first four months by far was in Italy, where the reported increase amounted to 117.1k units, representing a 26.9% YoY increase. Italy is followed by France and Spain, where a 79.3k and 78.8k units increase can be noted, respectively (+16.7% and 33.7% YoY). Germany is closely following, which is also considered a major and significant region, noting an increase of 63.6k units (+7.9% YoY). With everything said all major regions within the EU noted a strong positive development during the first four months of 2023, including this month to further amplify the mentioned growth.

Looking at the region, when observing the whole period since the beginning of the year, Croatia reported an increase of 38.8% YoY, amounting to 19.3k units registered. Slovenia reported somewhat slower growth of 6.7%, amounting to a total of 17.8k units. However, it should not surprise that the growth in Croatia was mainly driven by registration in Petrol cars, which of course should not surprise. Further, “only” 0.7k new registration cars were noted in Battery electric segment (more than 2x YoY for the whole period). Also, solid growth was noted for Hybrid electric from 3.2k during 2022, to 4.3k in this period.

Fuel type cars market share [April 2023]

Source: ACEA, InterCapital Research

During April, the most significant change occurred with electric cars, where a significant growth in market share by 2.7 p.p. YoY was noted, now amounting to 11.8%. Furthermore, hybrids now represent 24.8% of the EU’s new car market. Finally, petrol cars continue to dominate with the largest share of 38.2% (flat YoY development).