(Reuters) – Sales of new vehicles in the European Union have declined in January, show data published Tuesday by the Association of European Automobile Manufacturers (ACEA), while the leap of electricity or hybrid car registrations n ‘was not enough to compensate for the withdrawal of sales of petrol and diesel vehicles.

According to the ACEA report, sales of new cars in the EU fell last month by 2.6% over a year, even if the registrations of vehicles equipped with an electric battery increased by 34 % and those of hybrid vehicles of 18.4%. Sales of rechargeable vehicles decreased by 8.5%.

Completely electric car sales in Europe increased by 37.3% in January, according to data, but this sharp increase was not enough to compensate for the drop in sales of petrol and diesel vehicles, which fell by 2, 1%.

The figures show that the entirely electric Tesla brand recorded a drop of 45.2% in the European Union, in Great Britain and in the space of the European Free Trade Association, while sales of its competitor Chinese Saic Motor, which holds the MG brand, increased by 36.8%.

In total, sales of electric cars – electric, rechargeable or completely hybrid hybrids – represented 57.2% of new vehicle registrations in January in the EU, compared to 47.4% a year earlier.

Among the main European markets, only Spain recorded last month an annual increase in overall sales of new vehicles (+5.3%), while France (-6.2%), Italy ( -5.8%), Germany (-2.8%) and Great Britain (-2.5%) experienced decreases.

Regarding manufacturers, registrations for Volkswagen and Renault vehicles increased 5.3% and 5.4% respectively, according to ACEA data. Those of Stellantis dropped by 16%.

(Alessandro Parodi, Jean Terzian and Mara Vîlcu for the , edited by Augustin Turpin)

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