More hybrid electric vehicles sold in Hungary than petrol and diesel cars combined

In July 2024, new EU car registrations saw a modest increase (+0.2%) with mixed results across the region’s four major markets: Italy (+4.7%) and Spain (+3.4%) recorded moderate gains, while the French (-2.3%) and German (-2.1%) markets experienced declines. New passenger car registrations in Hungary grew by a modest 2.2% to 8,525 units.

Seven months into 2024, new car registrations increased by 3.9%, reaching more than 6.5 million units. This is the result of a low comparison base. The bloc’s largest markets all showed positive but modest performance, with Spain (+5.6%), Italy (+5.2%), Germany (+4.3%), and France (+2.2%) all recording growth. Hungary recorded a 10.7% yr/yr growth to nearly 71,900 units.

The chart below shows the number of new passenger car registrations in Central and Eastern Europe in the seventh month of 2023 and 2024, as well as their yr/yr change. Slovakia was the only one that did not record yr/yr increases in July, with Poland standing out in terms of the number of new cars registered, as well as the yr/yr growth, and Croatia is close behind in the latter term with a nearly 20% annual increase.

New EU car registrations by power source

In July, battery-electric cars accounted for 12.1% of the EU car market, down from 13.5% the previous year. Hybrid-electric vehicles increased their market share, growing from 25.5% to 32%. The combined share of petrol and diesel cars fell to 46%, down from 50%.

The combined share of petrol (33.4%) and diesel (12.6%) cars fell to 46%, down from 50%.

The share of HEV's (44.6%) remains a lot higher in Hungary than in the EU, with the combined share of petrol and diesel cars only at 43%.

The number of newly registered petrol cars showed a 7.0% yr/yr decline in the EU, while diesel car registrations dropped 10.1%. The largest annual growth (25.7%) was observed in the registration of hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs).

However, it is clear that there are countries, especially in our region, where electric and hybrid cars are finding it harder to gain a foothold. In Bulgaria, for example, almost 93% of newly registered passenger cars had internal combustion engine in July, but in Croatia, Slovenia, and Czechia, this share was 92.8%, 84.5%, and 67.8%, respectively. In comparison, the Nordic countries typically see figures below or around 30% (21.3% in Finland, 21.9% in the Netherlands and 29.5% in Sweden in July).

Hybrid electric vehicles

Hybrid-electric vehicles saw growth in July, with car registrations rising by 25.7% to 273,003 units in the EU. All four of the largest markets for this segment recorded double-digit gains: France (+47.4%), Spain (+31.5%), Germany (+22.4%), and Italy (+17.4%). This growth pushed the hybrid-electric market share to 32%, up from 25.5% in July 2023.

In Hungary, 44.6% of the newly registered cars were HEVs last month, with only Greece higher in this particular ranking.

New HEV registrations in Hungary rose 19.2% yr/yr to 3,800 cars. Hungary finished in the middle of this ranking last month.

Battery electric cars

In July 2024, registrations of battery-electric (BEV) cars declined by 10.8% to 102,705 units, with their total market share slipping to 12.1% from 13.5% a year before. Despite gains in Belgium (+44.2%), the Netherlands (+8.9%), and France (+1%), Germany’s decline (-36.8%) could not be offset.

From January to July, 815,399 new battery-electric cars were registered, representing 12.5% of the market.

The countries that were at the bottom of the petrol/diesel ranking above are now at the top. Of the Nordic countries, Denmark (51.5%) had the highest share of purely electric cars in total new registrations, but the Netherlands and Sweden also had one in three new cars registered that were fully electric.

At the bottom of the list are the countries of our region, with hardly any BEVs sold in Slovenia (145), Croatia (268) and Slovakia (174) did not excel either. The big markets of Italy and Spain have not caught on to electric cars. In Hungary, 468 BEVs were newly registered in July, a share of 6.8%.

New BEV registrations in Hungary soared by 63.9% yr/ry in July, against a 10.8% drop in the EU. Note that the surge in Croatia marks the registration of only 268 purely electric cars.

Norway is often quoted as a prime example of going electric in driving, where the share of EVs in total new registrations remains brutally high. In July, the share was 91.9%, meaning that nine out of ten cars newly registered in Norway were purely electric. Plug-in hybrids represented a mere 2.4% of newly registered cars and the share for hybrid electric vehicles was also only 2.5% last month. The petrol and diesel shares were 0.7% and 2.5%, respectively.

Plug-in hybrids

In terms of the share of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) of total new car registrations, Sweden came out on top with 25.8%, followed by Finland and Portugal. Hungary's share in this category was 5.5% in July, while the EU average was higher at 6.8%, down from 7.9% last year, with 57,679 units sold.

Plug-in hybrid car registrations in the EU saw a decline (-14.1%) last month, despite a 3.2% increase in Germany, with a significant decreases in the other two main markets, Belgium (-48.6%) and France (-30.7%).

Only 468 PHEVs were newly registered in Hungary in July, down 12.7% yr/yr.

New passenger car registrations in Hungary by fuel type

A total of 9,525 new passenger cars were registered in Hungary in July this year, 2.2% more than in the same month of 2023. Most new cars were HEVs (44.6%), followed by petrol (30.1%), diesel (12.9%), BEV (6.8%) and PHEV (5.5%). The evolution of these shares can be seen in the chart below. The race is clearly between HEVs and petrol cars, with the former coming out on top steadily since last July. The share of HEVs was also higher between November 2022 and May 2023.

As for the evolution of the share of the three main power sources (petrol, diesel, HEV) in Hungary's new passenger car registrations take a look at the three graphs below. The diminishing share of petrol engines year by year is evident, despite the fluctuations. The uptick for three month in a row might have been a warning sign if it weren't for the same pattern observed in the previous two years, but the share already dropped last month.

The share of diesel cars in new registrations has been showing greater fluctuation but the decline remains clear, albeit not as sharp by far as in the case of petrol-fuelled cars.

The share of HEVs has never been as high as in March for as long as the date series goes back (Jan2022), but it slumped back to 45.8% in April and further to 40.6% in May, only to pick up in July. Again, this also fits into the pattern of the previous two years.

There is also a slow overall increase in the share of battery electric vehicles (BEVs) in new passenger car registrations, with March standing out in the statistics. The May print was the second highest since January 2022, but it was followed by two lower figures, possibly a bad omen.

No clear trend can be seen at plug-in hybrids, but if we had to pick one it's definitely not an ascending trend - it's rather stagnation at best, although July turned out well.

It is worth nothing that the government launched an electric car subsidy scheme earlier this year, which has helped boost EV sales. As the scheme has not yet expired, it is expected to continue to have a positive impact on domestic EV sales for the rest of the year. However, green licence plate rules will soon be tightened in Hungary, which might dampen EV purchases to some extent. The EU's additional duty on Chinese EV manufacturers does not help the spread of electric vehicles, either.

Hungary and its regional peers - July

We can and should and do compare Hungary's performance also in regional terms, both in respect of the actual number of cars sold (by fuel type) and the annual change in new registrations. Here we go:

Hungary and its regional peers - January-July

In the first seven months of 2024, new passenger car registrations grew by 10.7% in Hungary to 71,867 units, including a 59.9% surge in BEV registrations (5,235), a 28.6% expansion at HEVs (32,528), and a small 1.4% increase at PHEVs (3,343). Meanwhile, diesel car sales rose 6.3% to 8,590 units and 10.2% fewer petrol-fuelled cars (22,079) were registered than in July 2023.