European passenger car market contracted for the first time this year in March (-5.2%), totaling 1,031,875 units sold.
All main national markets slowed down: Germany -6.2%; Spain -4.7%; Italy -3.7% (with 161,979 registrations, about 6.2 thousand less than in March 2023); France -1.5%.
Considering the first quarter of 2024, demand for new passenger cars grew by 4.4%, with 59,822 units, pushed by the four biggest markets: Italy +5.7% (with nearly 451 thousand vehicles registered, about 24.2 thousand over the same period last year); France +5.7%; Germany +4.2%; Spain +3.1%.
Battery-electric cars went down to a 13% of the market compared to 2023, while hybrid-electrics grew from 24.4% to 29%; petrol remained the main choice (35.4%).