Report
European vehicle market statistics 2024/25
The 2024/25 edition of European Vehicle Market Statistics offers a statistical portrait of passenger car, light commercial, and heavy-duty vehicle fleets in the European Union from 2001 to 2023.
The report provides data on new vehicle registrations, technologies, fuel consumption, and tailpipe emissions, and offers insights on long-term trends of the vehicle market.
Key findings
10.6 million
new cars registered in 2023
48%
of new cars registered in 2023 were SUVs
2 g/km
lower CO2 emissions from new passenger cars from 2022 to 2023
15%
of new cars registered in 2023 were battery electric
of new buses registered in 2023 were battery electric
Number of vehicles
The year 2023 saw the first increase in new car registrations across all Member States in the European Union since 2019. About 10.6 million new cars were registered in the 27 Member States in 2023, 14% more than in 2022. While sales in the Mini segment stagnated, the Sport Utility Vehicle (SUV)/off-road vehicle segment remained the market leader; these were 48% of new registrations in 2023, followed by the Lower Medium segment (19%).
Passenger cars: New registrations by vehicle segment
The market share of SUVs has increased dramatically in the past few years. Every tenth new vehicle in 2010 was an SUV compared to nearly every second new vehicle in 2023.
Looking at commercial vehicles, battery electric technology is advancing steadily and made up 40% of buses and 10% of the light and medium commercial vehicles sold in 2023. In contrast, the electrification of heavy trucks and coaches remains nascent, with just 1% of the market or less in 2023.
Sales of new commercial vehicles by powertrain, 2023
Fuel consumption and tailpipe emissions
The official level of average CO2 emissions from new passenger cars registered in the EU-27, as measured in the laboratory via the Worldwide harmonized Light vehicles Test Procedure, decreased marginally in 2023 to 108 g/km, 2 g/km lower than in 2022.
When examined by technology, the reduction of CO2 emissions can mostly be attributed to the increasing market share of battery electric and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles. There was little-to-no improvement in the efficiency of internal combustion engine vehicles (ICEVs) since 2021, and the average CO2 emissions for diesel vehicles even increased in 2023.
Annual average CO2 emissions and market share per fuel and power-train technology, 2019–2023
While the average CO2 emission levels for new cars in the European Union have decreased by about 47% since 2001, vehicle weight increased by 21%, and engine power increased by 56%.
Passenger cars: CO2 emissions and technical parameters
Technologies and key technical parameters
The top 10 electric vehicle (EV) models made up 24% of all EV sales in Europe in 2023, 27% in China, 58% in the United States, and 93% in India.
🔍 Click on the figures to take a closer look at the data
