Rome, Nov. 5, (dpa/GNA) – The market for electric and hybrid cars is booming in the European Union, an industry group reported Thursday, pinning this on government incentives for new low- or zero-emission models.
Some 570,000 electric and hybrid vehicles were sold in the first nine months of 2020, a year-on-year increase of 122 per cent, the European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA) said.
The three largest national markets for electric and hybrid cars were Germany, France and Sweden, with respective sales of roughly 204,500, 111,000 and 56,500.
During the same period, sales of petrol cars were down by more than 38 per cent, to 3.5 million units, and sales of diesels fell by 35 per cent, to 2 million units.
ACEA said that in the third quarter of 2020 around 75 per cent of cars sold in the EU were petrol or diesel-engine, compared from 88.6 per cent in the same quarter of 2019.
Overall, the market for all types of new cars shrank by 28.8 per cent in January-September, largely due to the effects of the novel coronavirus pandemic.
GNA