In July, passenger car registration in the EU increased by 15.2% YoY, totaling 851,156 units. Meanwhile, looking at the first seven months of 2023, EU registration of new cars increased by 17.6% YoY overall. In Croatia in the mentioned period, passenger car registration reported an increase of 37.8%.

In July 2023, passenger car registration in the EU increase by 15.2% YoY, totaling 851,156 units. The largest increase reported in the EU in July was again in Germany, where the absolute increase amounted to 37.4k units, representing an 18.1% YoY increase. Germany is followed by France at 21.4k units (19.9% YoY). Next up is Italy where the increase was 9.5k (8.7% YoY). Finally, the last major region within the EU, Spain, also reported growth of 7.8k units (10.7% YoY).

When observing the first seven months of 2023, the situation is pretty similar – EU registration of new cars increased by 17.6% YoY. However, the previous year was influenced by the semiconductor shortage, which started all the way back in 2021. Consequently, most EU markets showed strong growth compared to previous years. When observing the whole period, each of the major markets within the EU noted a positive development. Germany reported the most pronounced absolute growth (amounting to a relative 13.6% YoY), while the remaining major markets, Italy, France, and Spain all noted strong double-digit growth of 20.9%, 15.8% and 21.9% respectively, coming both from low base effect & real recovery in the sector. Smaller regions mostly noted double-digit growth. In July, two countries reported a YoY decrease in units, Hungary (-2.2% YoY) and Sweden (-2.5% YoY).

Looking at the region, when observing the whole YTD period, Croatia reported an astounding increase of 37.8% YTD, amounting to a growth of 10.6k units. Slovenia reported slightly lower numbers, recording a 4.9% growth, amounting to 1.4k units.

During July, we could see hybrid and electric vehicles gaining further market share. The battery electric car market noted a big steep attention rise, climbing to 13.6% market share, representing 3.8 p.p. Furthermore, hybrids now account for 25.6% of the market, being the second most popular choice. However, for now, petrol cars still retain the largest share at 35.8%, though we note it’s down 3.5 p.p. from data collected in July 2023.