In March, passenger car registration in the EU increased by 28.8% YoY, totaling 1,087,939 units. Meanwhile, looking at the first quarter of 2023, EU registration of new cars increased by 17.9% YoY overall. In Croatia in the mentioned period, passenger car registration reported a much more pronounced increase of 36.6% YoY.
In March 2022, passenger car registration in the EU increased by 28.8% YoY, totaling 1,087,939 units. The most significant increase reported in the EU in March by far was in Italy, where the reported increase amounted to 48.7k units, representing a 40.7% YoY increase. Italy is followed by Germany, where a 40k unit increase can be noted (+16.6% YoY). Germany is closely followed by Spain, which is also considered a major and significant region, noting an increase of 39.6k units (+66.1% YoY). Finally, the last major region within the EU, France, also noted a strong growth of 35.6k units, amounting to 182.7k units (+24.2% YoY).
When observing the first quarter of 2023, the situation is pretty similar – EU registration of new cars increased by 17.9% YoY, reaching 2.7m units registered in total. Overall, EU new car registration saw a strong increase on a YoY basis. However, the previous year was influenced by the semiconductor shortage, which started at the beginning of 2022. Consequently, most EU markets showed strong growth compared to 2022. When observing the whole period, each of the major markets within the EU noted a positive development. Germany reported just a slight growth (+6.5% YoY), while Spain, Italy and France all noted strong growth of 44.5%, 26.2% and 15.2%, respectively. Further, a number of smaller regions also noted a strong double-digit growth.
Looking at the region, when observing the whole period since the beginning of the year, Croatia reported an increase of 36.6% YoY, amounting to 13.2k units registered. Slovenia reported a somewhat worse situation – when observing the first quarter, the development was less pronounced with 5.5% growth.
Fuel type cars market share [March 2023]
Source: ACEA, InterCapital Research
During March 2023, there was a rise in the number of hybrid cars and battery electric registered in the EU, now representing 24.3% and 13.9% of the market, respectively. Still, petrol remained the top choice for newly-registered cars in the EU, with a market share of 37.5%, which is on par with the share recorded in 2022.
