Demand for used battery electric vehicles and hybrids is starting to hot up across Europe, new data from Indicata shows.

Andy Shields, Indicata business unit director

The 40% year-on-year stock turn increase for BEVs and a 25% increase for hybrids revealed in its Market Watch used car insights report shows they are selling faster than ever, and stocking days are gradually moving more into line with used petrol and diesel cars, although volumes remain relatively small.

For the first time BEVs became the fastest-selling fuel type in Denmark during September while diesel remained the fastest-selling fuel type across Europe.

At the same time, European used car markets remain affected by the shortage of new car production caused by the semiconductor shortages, pushing up prices.

Dealer stock is 2.2% down heading from September into October and year-on-year stock levels are on average 7.9% lower online for all countries except for France.

The supply constraint issues have become so severe in the UK that the market has seen price rises of 27.5% between April and the end of September.
Overall, the European market has delivered sales in Q3 that are 10.7% above pre-pandemic levels as drivers turn to the used market for their next car.
There is clear evidence that manufacturers are supporting tactical registrations; online B2C sales of sub-12-month-old were 14% higher in September than August. The tactical volumes in September 2021 were 15% above September 2020 and year-on-year this was the only age group which experienced sales growth as well as a 30% increase in stock turn.

“The impact of restricted new car sales continues to have a big impact right across Europe and our report puts that into perspective at a country level,” explained Andy Shields, Indicata’s global business unit director.

“There are plenty of signs that the used market will be under stock and price pressures for many more months to come and we aim to keep a close eye on these trends. For instance, we have seen the first signs that car makers are injecting some life into the nearly new market with some tactical registrations at a time when some markets have been short of younger stock for over 18 months,” he added.