- Europeans bought 2.8% fewer cars in January 2025 compared to 2024.
- Electric vehicle sales surged despite the overall drop, growing by 34% and reaching a 15% market share.
- BMW sold more EVs in the EU in January than Tesla, which saw a significant sales drop last month.
Europeans saw an overall decline in new car sales in January compared to the same month in 2024, but without surging EV sales, it would have been even worse, as new data from the European Automobile Manufacturers Association shows. Some automakers saw overall increases year over year. But others, like Tesla and Stellantis, saw major sales drops. Meanwhile, Chinese automakers continued to gain ground on the continent.
Total new passenger car registrations in the European Union fell in January by 2.6%, brought down by declines in the union’s biggest markets. France saw 6.1% fewer registrations, while they fell by 5.8% and 2.8% in Italy and Germany, respectively. One of the few major markets that saw an increase was Spain, which registered 5.3% more new cars, per the data, which was reported by Reuters.
However, even though total registrations fell, electric vehicles had an excellent January, growing by 34% and reaching a 15% market share. Almost 65% of these new EVs were bought in Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium, which saw 53.5%, 28.2% and 37.2% increases year over year.
Plug-in hybrids didn’t get off to a good start in 2025, with registrations falling by 8.5% in January, although they still accounted for 7.4% of the EU’s monthly total. Hybrids that don’t plug in (including mild hybrids) made up almost 35% of last month’s new car registrations, more than pure combustion cars running on gasoline, which accounted for 29.4%, and diesel cars with a 10% share. Combustion cars saw a monthly decline of nearly 30% year over year.
Tesla sales plummeted in the EU last month, falling by a whopping 45.2%. It sold just under 10,000 cars versus over 18,000 in January 2024, and its market share fell from 1.8% to 1% this year. It sold just 1,277 vehicles in the bloc’s largest market, Germany, the manufacturer’s weakest performance in the country since July 2021. Its sales also fell off a cliff in France, registering a 63% drop.
The reason behind this sharp decline for Tesla in the EU (and around the world) is likely linked to company boss Elon Musk’s involvement in several European countries’ internal affairs, as well as his support for Donald Trump, who isn’t Europeans’ favorite person right now. The company is also in an overall sales slump right now driven in part by its relatively old products, but an updated version of its best-seller is on the way soon. It will be interesting to see if Tesla’s sales slump in Europe continues after the company starts delivering the new (and German-built) Model Y, which it hopes will continue to be very popular on the continent.
While Tesla observed a decline, other EV manufacturers saw positive numbers in January. MG, which is owned by China’s SAIC, saw European registrations increase by 36.8%. BMW also had a good January with a 36% uptick in pure EV registrations when it delivered 13,715 vehicles across the continent, thanks to a rise in popularity for the iX1 (the seventh-best-selling EV in the EU in 2024), which saw a 64% increase last month.
Overall, European new car sales declined in January, but surging EV demand helped cushion the blow. Tesla’s sharp drop, linked to political factors, contrasted with gains made by Chinese-owned brands like MG and legacy automakers like BMW. With new models launching and competition intensifying, the coming months will test whether Europe’s EV growth can sustain its momentum.
