Car sales in Europe have slowly started to pick up speed

After a slow start to the year, car sales in Europe have picked up again this autumn.

Figures from the European automotive manufacturers’ association, Acea, show that the number of new cars sold was ten percent higher in September than in the same month last year.

A total of 888,672 new cars hit the roads in September, making the total car sales for the year so far 0.9 percent higher than at the same time in 2024.

This is good news for the pressured European automotive industry, says Mads Rørvig, who is the CEO of the Danish industry association Mobility Denmark.

While electric cars accounted for 73.4 percent of the total market in Denmark, the green wave has not washed over the rest of Europe to the same extent.

Pure electric cars make up only 16.1 percent of sales in the EU, which is an increase of 10 percent compared to September last year.

However, hybrid cars, both with and without charging cables, are popular and account for 9 and 34.7 percent of the market, respectively.

Gasoline cars account for 27.7 percent of sales, while 9.3 percent of the new cars in the EU run on diesel.

Director Thomas Møller Sørensen from the Automotive Industry in Danish Industry notes that the European car market is more or less divided in two when it comes to electric car sales.

Here, particularly the Nordic countries have taken the lead over the rest.

– In several Northern European countries, we have cracked the code to ensure high sales of electric cars.

– It is about long-term and continuous support for the purchase of electric cars as well as clear frameworks for investments in charging stations, he says.

In the recent budget agreement between the government and the Conservatives, the planned tax increases on electric cars, which were to take effect at the turn of the year, have been postponed to 2027.