New car registrations fell in January in spite of rising demand for electric vehicles, new data from Jato Dynamics shows.

Across the Europe-28, new car registrations were down 4.0% year-on-year in January

Across the Europe-28, a total of 953,290 new cars were registered in January; down 4.0% year-on-year. Both Germany and France dropped 6.6%, while registrations in Spain fell by 3.1%. In contrast, both Italy and the UK showed positive growth with registrations up by 6.3% and 3.4% respectively.

Despite the downfall, the push towards electrification continued. Year-on-year registrations of battery electric cars (BEVs) increased by 13% with the segment making up 20% of the market.

Plug-in hybrids (PHEVs), the fastest-growing powertrain, recorded a year-on-year rise of 32% from 75,242 to 99,303 units, accounting for 10% of the market. Growth has primarily been driven by Volkswagen Group’s new plug-in models – the Golf, Tayron, A5 and A3 – as well as the first and second best-selling PHEVs, BYD’s Seal U and the Jaecoo 7.

Hybrids (HEVs) remained stable and accounted for 14% of the market – a year-on-year increase of 4%.

January registrations by powertrain typeAt the group level, Stellantis performed well, with registrations up 7.4% year-on-year. Fiat overperformed (+24.7%), thanks to the new Grande Panda, countering declines of approximately 5% for both Peugeot and Jeep.

However, looking across the top 10 EU groups, these are the only signs of positive growth.

Volkswagen Group saw a year-on-year decline of 4.4%, with Škoda marked out as the only brand to record a year-on-year increase – up by 9.8%. Despite Renault’s year-on-year increase of 4.6%, the broader Renault Group declined by 14.8%, “dragged down” by the Dacia Duster and Sandero despite stronger results for the Bigster.

Among China’s carmakers there were diverging trends. Established players such as Geely Group and MG saw a decline in overall sales, down 7.3% and 5.3% respectively, but newcomers continued to grow strongly bolstered by their BEV figures.

BYD was the most-registered Chinese make, with 8,977 BEV units (+86%), while Leapmotor registered 3,833 BEV units – a 357% increase on the same month last year.