FACT SHEET EUROPE

JANUARY 2021

MARKET MONITOR
EUROPEAN PASSENGER CAR REGISTRATIONS:
JANUARY–DECEMBER 2020
The COVID-19 pandemic had a significant effect on the European car market in 2020, with
new registrations hitting a lowmark of -79% in April 2020, compared to new registrations one
year earlier. By the end of the year, the market had recovered somewhat: in total, new car
registrations were 25% lower than in 2019. Among manufacturers, Kia was affected the least
(-16%) while the PSA-Opel pool was facing the strongest year-to-year decline (-30%). The
market-wide share of electric vehicles increased from 3% in 2019 to 11% in 2020. About half of
the electric vehicles newly registered were battery-electric (6%), with the other half being plug-
in hybrid electric (5%). Throughout the year, the share of electric vehicles grew continously
and reached a level of 23% in the month of December. In the case of Daimler, electric vehicles
accounted for almost half (46%) of new registrations in December (33% plug-in hybrid, 13%
battery electric vehicles). For the full year of 2020, Daimler (21%), BMW (17%), and Kia (17%)
had the highest shares of electric vehicles, plug-in hybrid vehicles included. All manufacturer
pools reached electric vehicle market shares above 10%, except for the Toyota-Mazda (2%) and
the PSA-Opel (7%) pools. Average new car CO2 emission levels went from 122 g/km (NEDC) in
2019 to an estimated level of 107 g/km in 2020. This equals a reduction rate of about 1 g/km per
month, while from 2015 through 2019 the rate of reduction was at about 0.6 g/km of CO2 per
year. All manufacturer pools were in compliance with their respective 2020 CO2 target levels,
or very close, so no substantial penalty levels are expected. Assuming conservative estimates
for phase-in and eco-innovation credits, the average new car CO2 level in 2020 was 97 g/km
(NEDC). With the same estimates, the VW pool would have missed its target by 4 g/km, and
the Daimler pool by 3 g/km. Meanwhile, the companies themselves announced that VW had
missed its target by only 0.5 g/km and that Daimler exactly met its target, suggesting that
phase-in and eco-innovation credits were exploited slightly more than assumed for this analysis.

Table 1. New passenger car registrations, by manufacturer. Table 2. Share of electric vehicles, by manufacturer.
New car registrations Share of electric vehicles
Dec 2020 Dec 2019 2020 2019 Dec 2020 2020 2019
VW Group 296,987 5% 2,958,845 -21% Daimler 46% 21% 3%
PSA-Opel 157,589 0% 1,723,970 -30% FCA-Tesla-Honda 32% 13% 9%
Renault 120,774 -17% 1,189,958 -26% Other 30% 13% 8%
FCA-Tesla-Honda 103,485 6% 859,451 -25% Hyundai 30% 15% 7%
Ford-Volvo 90,100 -19% 952,174 -28% BMW 26% 17% 9%
BMW 83,150 -12% 819,116 -19% Kia 26% 17% 6%
Toyota-Mazda 81,655 1% 827,056 -20% VW Group 25% 11% 2%
Daimler 74,599 -15% 751,951 -25% AVERAGE 23% 11% 3%
Hyundai 42,637 0% 413,550 -25% Renault 23% 10% 3%
Kia 30,973 -15% 416,561 -16% Nissan 18% 11% 9%
Nissan 28,723 -10% 283,802 -27% Ford-Volvo 16% 12% 3%
Other 46,092 -20% 497,470 -30% PSA-Opel 9% 7% 0%
ALL 1,156,764 -6% 11,693,904 -25% Toyota-Mazda 6% 2% 0%
 Table 3. New passenger car fleet average CO2 emission level, by manufacturer.
New car fleet average CO2 (in g/km)
Status Target Target
Dec 20 2020 Compliance credits 2020 2020 gap
Target
gap WLTP NEDC WLTP NEDC PI EC SC NEDC NEDC NEDC
PSA-Opel -3% 119 95 122 98 3.0 0.1 5.3 90 92 -2
BMW -2% 120 99 136 112 3.0 0.9 7.5 101 103 -2
Renault -2% 101 85 120 101 3.0 0.2 7.5 91 92 -1
Hyundai -1% 92 81 118 103 3.0 0.0 7.5 93 94 -1
Kia -1% 102 88 119 104 3.0 0.0 7.5 93 94 -1
Nissan 0% 117 94 132 106 3.0 0.1 7.5 95 95 0
Toyota-Mazda 0% 113 92 122 99 3.0 0.1 1.8 94 95 -1
AVERAGE 1% 111 91 129 107 3.0 0.2 6.7 97 96 1
Ford-Volvo 2% 127 107 134 112 3.0 0.1 6.8 103 101 2
FCA-Tesla-Honda 3% 93 78 129 108 3.0 0.1 7.5 97 94 3
Daimler 3% 99 84 138 117 3.0 0.7 7.5 105 102 3
VW Group 4% 113 93 136 112 3.0 0.0 7.5 101 97 4
Notes: PI = phase-in, EC = eco-innovations, SC = super-credits; all CO2 values are estimates, see methodology section.

The registration share of electric vehicles in 2020 was the highest in Norway (75%),
with two-thirds of being battery electric vehicles. Iceland (46%), Sweden (32%), the
Netherlands (25%), Finland (18%), Denmark (16%), Germany (14%), and Portugal (12%)
also currently have electric vehicle registration shares above the European average of
11%. In the Netherlands, 72% of all new cars registered in December 2020 were electric
vehicles, in Sweden it was 49% of all new vehicles, and in Belgium and Germany 27%.
Spain (1% in 2019, 5% in 2020) and Germany (3% in 2019, 14% in 2020) were among the
markets with the strongest increase in electric vehicle market share.

Powertrain type
Norway Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles
Battery electric vehicles
Electric vehicle share (2020 YTD)

60%

40%

Sweden

Netherlands

20%
Denmark
Germany United
France Kingdom Belgium MARKET AVERAGE

Other Spain Italy

0%
0 2,500,000 5,000,000 7,500,000 10,000,000
Cumulative new passenger car registrations (2020 YTD)

Figure 1. Share of electric vehicles, by country, including information on market size (cumulative
car registrations).

2 ICCT FACT SHEET | EUROPEAN PASSENGER CAR REGISTRATIONS

 Table 4. New passenger car registrations, by country. Table 5. Share of electric vehicles by country.
New car registrations Share of electric vehicles
  Dec 2020 Dec 2019 2020 2019   Dec 2020 2020 2019
Germany 311,394 10% 2,917,678 -19% Netherlands 72% 25% 15%
France 170,166 -19% 1,611,400 -27% Sweden 49% 32% 11%
United Kingdom 132,682 -11% 1,631,064 -29% Belgium 27% 11% 3%
Italy 119,345 -15% 1,383,596 -28% Other 27% 14% 7%
Spain 111,030 0% 895,769 -32% Germany 27% 14% 3%
Poland 51,532 -2% 428,444 -23% United Kingdom 23% 11% 3%
Netherlands 42,829 3% 356,053 -20% AVERAGE 23% 11% 3%
Sweden 34,347 -28% 293,221 -18% Austria 19% 9% 3%
Belgium 30,217 -10% 436,930 -21% France 18% 11% 3%
Austria 23,961 5% 251,709 -24% Italy 11% 4% 1%
Other 129,261 -2% 1,488,040 -22% Spain 10% 5% 1%
ALL 1,156,764 -6% 11,693,904 -25% Poland 3% 2% 0%

In Italy, the share of electric vehicles reached 11% of total new car registrations in
December 2020. A similar level was reached in April, although at that time few new
cars were registered in Italy due to a hard COVID-19 lockdown in place. In July, the
Italian government decided to strongly increase subsidies for electric vehicles. Starting
in August, consumers could obtain a purchase premium of up to €6,000 (€10,000
if scrapping an old car) when opting for a battery electric vehicle and up to €3,500
(€6,500 if scrapping an old car) in the case of a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle.

Italy
12% 11.8%
Electric vehicle share

11.4%
10%
8% 7.0%

4% 4.6% 4.5% 4.2%

4.0%
3.0% 2.9% 2.7%
2% 2.1% 2.3%
1.1%
0%
Dec ‘19 Jan ‘20 Feb ‘20 Mar ‘20 Apr ‘20 May ‘20 Jun ‘20 Jul ‘20 Aug ‘20 Sep ‘20 Oct ‘20 Nov ‘20 Dec ‘20

Powertrain type Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles Battery electric vehicles

Figure 2. Share of electric vehicles in Italy (spotlight of the month).

3 ICCT FACT SHEET | EUROPEAN PASSENGER CAR REGISTRATIONS

DEFINITIONS, DATA SOURCES, METHODOLOGY, AND ASSUMPTIONS

Manufacturer pools: Automakers are allowed to form pools to jointly comply with CO2 targets.
For this factsheet, the definition of pools according to the European Commission, “M1 pooling
list”, version of 30 October 2020 applies (main brands listed here): VW Group (Aiways, Audi,
e.GO, LEVC, MG, Porsche, SEAT, Škoda, VW), PSA-Opel (Citroën, DS Automobiles, Opel, Peugeot,
Vauxhall), Renault (Dacia, Renault), FCA-Tesla-Honda (Alfa Romeo, Fiat, Honda, Jeep, Lancia, Tesla),
BMW (BMW, Mini), Toyota-Mazda (Lexus, Mazda, Toyota), Daimler (Mercedes-Benz, Smart), Ford-
Volvo (Ford, Volvo), Hyundai (Hyundai), and Kia (Kia). In addition, one manufacturer not forming a
pool (Nissan) is included for this factsheet.

Abbreviations: CO2 = carbon dioxide emissions; g/km = grams per kilometer; YTD = year to date.

Technical scope: This factsheet focuses on new passenger car registrations of category M1. Light
commercial vehicles are not included. Electric vehicles here include battery electric, plug-in hybrid
electric, and fuel cell vehicles.

Geographic scope: The European CO2 regulation for vehicle manufacturers applies to all countries
of the European Economic Area (EEA). This includes the 27 member states of the European Union,
plus Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and the United Kingdom (UK). Data for new car registrations
and shares of electric vehicles in this factsheet cover all of these countries, with the exception of
Bulgaria, Liechtenstein, and Malta. Data for CO2 emission levels additionally omit Hungary, Lithuania,
Poland (until April 2020), Portugal, and Romania (together less than 10% of the total market).

Data sources: AAA DATA (France), SMMT (UK), Dataforce (all other markets).

Results may change over time: Registrations and/or CO2 data may be retrospectively updated by
some of the national type approval authorities. YTD values are regularly updated to reflect all latest
data available.

Test procedures: For the conversion of CO2 values from the New European Drive Cycle (NEDC) to
the Worldwide harmonized Light vehicles Test Procedure (WLTP), manufacturer-specific factors
based on 2019 market data are applied.1

Flexible compliance mechanisms: To facilitate meeting their CO2 targets, manufacturers can make
use of a number of compliance mechanisms: (1) For 2020, the top 5% of new car registrations with
the highest CO2 emission level will be omitted from the calculation of a manufacturer’s average CO2
emissions (phase-in provision). We estimate this to lower each manufacturer’s 2020 CO2 level by
approximately 2-5 g/km, on average by approximately 3 g/km, (2) Manufacturers can reduce their
CO2 level by up to 7 g/km by deploying eco-innovation technologies. As a conservative estimate,
we apply the 2019 level of eco-innovation CO2 emission reductions per manufacturer2, (3) New
registrations of vehicles with less than 50 g/km CO2/km (NEDC) in 2020 are counted twice (super-
credit multiplier of 2.0). The impact of super-credits for complying with the CO2 targets is capped
at 7.5 g/km per manufacturer for the years 2020-2022 together.

Mass-based targets: For each manufacturer pool, a specific 2020 CO2 target value applies,
depending on the average mass of the new cars registered. For this factsheet, we assume the average
mass per manufacturer pool to remain constant with respect to the market situation in 2019.3

1 Applying the methodology outlined in: Jan Dornoff, Uwe Tietge, and Peter Mock, On the way to “real-
world” CO2 values: The European passenger car market in its first year after introducing the WLTP, (ICCT:
Washington, DC, 2020), https://theicct.org/publications/way-real-world-co2-values-european-passenger-
car-market-its-first-year-after
www.theicct.org
2 Applying the methodology outlined in: Uwe Tietge, Peter Mock, and Jan Dornoff, Overview and evaluation
of eco-innovations in European passenger car CO2 standards, (ICCT: Washington, DC, 2018), https://theicct.
org/publications/eco-innovations-european-passenger-car-co2-standards.
[email protected]
3 Uwe Tietge, Peter Mock, and Jan Dornoff, CO2 emissions from new passenger cars in Europe: Car
manufacturers’ performance in 2019 (ICCT: Washington, DC, 2020), https://theicct.org/publications/co2- twitter @theicct
new-passenger-cars-europe-aug2020.

Contact: Peter Mock, +49 30 847129-102, [email protected]

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