EU new car sales growth to slow, EV share to rise in 2024 -ACEA

By Philip Blenkinsop

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Union new car sales will rise by only 2.5% in 2024, a slowdown compared to a 12% increase in 2023, European automobile manufacturers association ACEA forecast on Wednesday, although the share of electric vehicles will sharply increase.

The 2023 forecast is an upgrade from ACEA's forecast in January of 5% growth. Still, new car registrations at 10.4 million euros will be nearly 20% below record 2019 levels.

ACEA said the share of battery electric vehicles would rise from 14-14.5% this year to about 20% in 2024.

The auto body issued forecasts during its presentation of policy recommendations to EU institutions for the next five year period 2024-2029 following the European Parliament election.

Among them are a comprehensive industrial strategy across all steps of green and digital supply chains and a reduced pace of new regulations.

ACEA President Luca de Meo, who is chief executive of Renault, complained that the sector was confronted with eight to nine EU regulations coming into force every year until 2030, some of them conflicting.

De Meo also said the speed at which charging stations were installed needed to increase by a factor of seven to 10.

He said there would steadily be more launches of smaller electric vehicles, equivalent to the Volkswagen Polo or Renault Clio, still with a range of 400-500 kilometres, but at a markedly lower price, sparking demand.

(Reporting by Philip Blenkinsop; Editing by Alexandra Hudson and Alexander Smith)