Market Monitor: European Passenger Car and Light Commercial Vehicle Registrations, January-December 2021
Market Monitor: European Passenger Car and Light Commercial Vehicle Registrations, January-December 2021
FACT SHEET EUROPE
JANUARY 2022
MARKET MONITOR
EUROPEAN PASSENGER CAR AND LIGHT
COMMERCIAL VEHICLE REGISTRATIONS:
JANUARY–DECEMBER 2021
By the end of 2021, there had been about 10 million new passenger cars newly
registered across Europe. This is 2% less than in 2020. However, this trend was not
evenly seen across the individual manufacturer (pool). The Tesla-Honda-JRL pool had
new car registrations that were 20% higher than in the previous year, and Hyundai
and Kia had similar growth, each with +18%. On the other end of the spectrum, Ford
(-18%), Mercedes-Benz (-13%), and the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi pool (-12%) counted
significantly fewer new registrations in 2021 than in 2020. The share of battery-electric
and plug-in hybrid vehicles kept increasing throughout 2021, especially towards at
the end of the year. In December, 18% of new registrations were battery-electric,
and another 11% were plug-in hybrids. On average, for the entire year of 2021, 10% of
new cars were battery-electric and 9% plug-in hybrids. This is an increase from 6%
battery-electric and 5% plug-in hybrid new cars in 2020. The Tesla-Honda-JRL pool
had the highest share of battery-electric cars in 2021 (57%), followed by Hyundai (14%),
Kia (12%), and Mercedes-Benz (12%). At the bottom of the list was the Mazda-Subaru-
Suzuki-Toyota pool (1%).
All manufacturers were likely able to comply with their specific 2021 CO2 target. On
average, over-compliance was at least 4 g/km. As manufacturers likely deployed more
“eco-innovation” technologies than estimated here based on their 2020 performance,
over-compliance may be even more pronounced. Furthermore, actual average vehicle
mass will also have an effect on CO2 targets and may further increase manufacturer
over-compliance. A key element for ensuring compliance for some manufacturers was
to form a pool with other manufacturers. The most striking example is Tesla, which
joined forces with Honda and JRL to ensure compliance for the latter two companies.
In addition, FCA joined the Stellantis CO2 targets pool towards the end of 2021.
Table 1. New passenger car registrations, by manufacturer pool. Table 2. Share of plug-in hybrid and battery electric passenger
cars, by manufacturer pool.
New car registrations
Share of plug-in hybrid and battery electric cars
Dec 2021 Dec 2020 2021 2020
Dec 2021 2021 2020
VW Group 193,145 -30% 2,493,164 -4%
BEV PHEV BEV PHEV BEV PHEV
Stellantis 162,557 -24% 2,158,081 -2%
Tesla-Honda-JLR 78% 5% 57% 6% 40% 3%
Renault-
Nissan- 125,370 -16% 1,264,211 -12% Kia 23% 11% 12% 12% 9% 9%
Mitsubishi Renault-Nissan-
22% 5% 11% 4% 8% 3%
Mazda-Subaru- Mitsubishi
69,646 -22% 942,233 9%
Suzuki-Toyota Volvo 22% 44% 11% 38% 6% 31%
BMW Group 54,319 -23% 670,321 2% Hyundai 21% 6% 14% 6% 14% 1%
Mercedes-Benz 49,907 -27% 559,826 -13% BMW Group 20% 20% 9% 19% 5% 13%
Hyundai 37,013 -6% 433,679 18% VW Group 18% 9% 11% 9% 7% 5%
Tesla-Honda- AVERAGE 18% 11% 10% 9% 6% 5%
32,072 -3% 232,775 20%
JLR
Mercedes-Benz 14% 28% 12% 24% 6% 16%
Ford 32,008 -35% 432,764 -18%
Ford 10% 15% 5% 10% 0% 4%
Kia 30,676 11% 408,189 18%
Stellantis 10% 8% 7% 5% 3% 2%
Volvo 24,832 -20% 247,443 2%
Other 9% 31% 7% 14% 4% 1%
Other 6,824 74% 59,164 61%
Mazda-Subaru-
1% 4% 1% 2% 1% 1%
ALL 818,369 -22% 9,901,850 -2% Suzuki-Toyota
Table 3. New passenger car fleet average CO2 emission level, by manufacturer pool.
New car fleet average CO2 (in g/km)
Compliance Status Target Target
Dec 2021 2021 credits 2021 2021 gap
Target
gap WLTP NEDC WLTP NEDC EC SC WLTP WLTP WLTP
Tesla-Honda-JLR -54% 31 26 65 54 0.0 0.0 65 143 -78
Volvo -23% 77 64 102 85 0.0 0.0 102 132 -30
BMW Group -6% 98 84 116 99 0.2 0.0 116 124 -8
Mercedes-Benz -5% 105 94 116 103 0.0 0.0 116 122 -6
Kia -4% 91 78 105 91 0.0 0.0 105 110 -5
Ford -4% 110 89 120 97 0.2 5.7 115 120 -5
AVERAGE -3% 101 84 115 95 0.0 0.6 114 118 -4
Hyundai -2% 96 83 107 92 0.0 0.0 107 110 -3
Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi 0% 94 80 110 94 0.0 0.0 110 111 -1
VW Group 0% 110 92 119 99 0.0 0.0 119 120 -1
Stellantis 0% 109 86 119 93 0.0 0.3 118 118 0
Mazda-Subaru-Suzuki-Toyota 0% 117 93 119 95 0.0 2.6 116 116 0
Notes: EC = eco-innovations, SC = super-credits; all CO2 values are estimates, see methodology section.
In 2021, the registration share of plug-in hybrid and battery electric vehicles was the
highest in Norway (86%). Iceland (58%), Sweden (45%), Denmark (35%), Finland (31%),
the Netherlands (29%), Germany (26%), Luxembourg (20%), and Austria (20%) also had
electric vehicle registration shares above the European average of 19%.
2 ICCT FACT SHEET | EUROPEAN PASSENGER CAR AND LIGHT-COMMERCIAL VEHICLE REGISTRATIONS
Norway Powertrain type
Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles
Battery electric vehicles
75%
Electric vehicle share (2021 YTD)
50%
Sweden
Denmark
Netherlands
Germany Austria
25%
France Belgium MARKET AVERAGE
Italy Other Spain
0%
0 2,000,000 4,000,000 6,000,000 8,000,000
Cumulative new passenger car registrations (2021 YTD)
Figure 1. Share of electric vehicles, by country, including information on market size (cumulative
car registrations).
Table 4. New passenger car registrations, by country. Table 5. Share of plug-in hybrid and battery electric passenger cars, by
country (EU only).
New car registrations
Dec Dec Share of plug-in hybrid and battery electric cars
2021 2020 2021 2020 Dec 2021 2021 2020
Germany 227,630 -27% 2,622,132 -10% BEV PHEV BEV PHEV BEV PHEV
France 158,117 -15% 1,659,003 1% Netherlands 59% 6% 20% 10% 20% 4%
Italy 87,362 -27% 1,462,141 6% Sweden 36% 24% 19% 26% 10% 23%
Spain 87,350 -21% 883,158 -1% Other 27% 15% 15% 11% 9% 7%
Poland 36,168 -30% 446,418 4% Germany 21% 14% 14% 12% 7% 7%
Netherlands 35,708 -16% 322,857 -9% Austria 19% 6% 14% 6% 6% 3%
Sweden 27,644 -20% 303,294 3% AVERAGE 18% 11% 10% 9% 6% 5%
Belgium 20,538 -32% 390,269 -11% France 15% 10% 10% 8% 7% 5%
Austria 17,979 -25% 244,585 -3% Belgium 13% 14% 6% 12% 3% 7%
Czechia 16,208 -20% 206,875 2% Italy 7% 7% 5% 5% 2% 2%
Other 103,665 -14% 1,361,118 5% Spain 4% 6% 3% 5% 2% 3%
ALL 818,369 -22% 9,901,850 -2% Poland 4% 2% 2% 2% 1% 1%
Czechia 2% 2% 1% 2% 2% 1%
For light commercial vehicles (vans), new registrations in 2021 were about 10% higher
than in 2020. On average, 3% of new vans were battery electric vehicles, compared to
2% in 2020. The Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi pool was the manufacturer pool with the
highest share of electric vans (5%), and Germany was the country with the highest
share (5%). Using 2020 average vehicle mass and eco-innovation credits as proxy for
2021, van manufacturers are expected to have missed their 2021 CO2 target by about
6 g/km. Stellantis would have been the only manufacturer group close to compliance
while the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi pool would have missed their target by about 12
g/km. Official data, including actual data on average vehicle mass and eco-innovation
credits, will become available from the European Environmental Agency in mid-2022.
3 ICCT FACT SHEET | EUROPEAN PASSENGER CAR AND LIGHT-COMMERCIAL VEHICLE REGISTRATIONS
Table 6. New van registrations, by manufacturer pool. Table 7. Share of plug-in hybrid and battery electric vans, by manufacturer
pool.
New vans registrations
Share of plug-in hybrid and battery electric vans
Dec Dec
2021 2020 2021 2020 Dec 2021 2021 2020
Stellantis 43,722 -10% 534,543 10% BEV PHEV BEV PHEV BEV PHEV
Renault-Nissan- Renault-Nissan-
29,637 -5% 325,066 13% 7% 0% 5% 0% 5% 0%
Mitsubishi Mitsubishi
Volkswagen- Mercedes-Benz 6% 0% 4% 0% 2% 0%
23,747 -28% 367,038 1%
Ford-SAIC Other 5% 0% 4% 0% 2% 0%
Mercedes-Benz 14,849 -2% 152,666 -3% AVERAGE 5% 0% 3% 0% 2% 0%
Other 16,181 20% 174,010 44% Stellantis 4% 0% 2% 0% 1% 0%
ALL 128,136 -10% 1,553,323 10% Volkswagen-Ford-SAIC 2% 1% 2% 0% 2% 0%
Table 8. New vans fleet average CO2 emission level, by manufacturer pool.
New vans fleet average CO2 (in g/km)
Status Target Target
Dec 2021 2021 Credits 2021 2021 gap
Target
gap WLTP NEDC WLTP NEDC EC WLTP WLTP WLTP
Stellantis 1% 171 126 183 135 0.0 183 182 1
AVERAGE 3% 186 145 194 151 0.0 194 188 6
Volkswagen-
3% 201 166 199 164 0.0 199 193 6
Ford-SAIC
Mercedes-Benz 4% 228 189 225 186 0.0 225 215 10
Renault-Nissan-
6% 176 135 191 147 0.0 191 179 12
Mitsubishi
Table 9. New van registrations, by country (EU only). Table 10. Share of plug-in hybrid and battery electric vans by country.
New vans registrations Share of plug-in hybrid and battery electric vans
Dec Dec Dec 2021 2021 2020
2021 2020 2021 2020
BEV PHEV BEV PHEV BEV PHEV
France 38,554 -11% 430,690 7% Germany 7% 0% 5% 0% 3% 0%
Germany 21,001 -13% 264,572 -1% Other 5% 0% 3% 0% 2% 0%
Italy 15,743 -10% 171,842 14% AVERAGE 5% 0% 3% 0% 2% 0%
Spain 9,617 -17% 129,264 12% Spain 4% 0% 2% 0% 1% 0%
Other 43,221 -5% 556,955 16% France 4% 0% 3% 0% 2% 0%
ALL 128,136 -10% 1,553,323 10% Italy 3% 0% 2% 0% 1% 0%
At the end of December 2021, there were close to 360,000 publicly accessible electric
vehicle charging points in Europe. This represents a 46% increase from the 246,000
that were already installed by end of 2020. Europe-wide, there were about 1.9 22
kW-equivalent, or “normal”, publicly accessible charging points installed per thousand
passenger cars on the road at the end of 2021. The number of charging points per
thousand passenger cars varies widely between countries, with countries such as
Norway (20), Netherlands (8.3), and Iceland (7.6) leading and markets such as Poland
(0.3) and Greece (0.2) at the bottom of the spectrum.
4 ICCT FACT SHEET | EUROPEAN PASSENGER CAR AND LIGHT-COMMERCIAL VEHICLE REGISTRATIONS
20
20
22 kW-equivalent charging points
per 1,000 passenger cars
15
10
8.3
7.6
5.2
5 4.3 4.3
3.4 3.1
2.8 2.6 2.5
2.3 2.2 1.7 1.6 1.3 MARKET AVERAGE: 1.9
1.1 1.1 1 1 0.9 0.8 0.7 0.7 0.6
0.5 0.4 0.4 0.3 0.2 0.2
0
Norway
Netherlands
Iceland
Slovenia
Sweden
Liechtenstein
Austria
Switzerland
Finland
Luxembourg
Belgium
Germany
France
Latvia
Hungary
Slovakia
Portugal
Bulgaria
Croatia
Italy
Czechia
Ireland
Estonia
Spain
Malta
Romania
Lithuania
Poland
Cyprus
Greece
Denmark
Figure 2. 22 kW-equivalent publicly accessible charging points installed per thousand passenger
cars on the road for every EU and EFTA country by the end of 2021.
Focusing on Germany as the spotlight of the month, the share of new battery-electric
and plug-in hybrid passenger cars reached a level of about 36% by the end of 2021.
The electric vehicle share increased in particular throughout the second half of the
year, especially for battery-electric vehicles, whereas the portion of plug-in hybrids
kept decreasing. Overall, throughout the entire year, 14% of new cars in Germany were
battery-electric and 12% were plug-in hybrids.
Germany
Electric vehicle share
34.4% 35.7%
30.4%
10.0% 26.6% 27.6% 28.7%
21.8% 22.5% 22.1% 23.4% 23.6% 23.5%
20.7%
5.0%
0.0%
Dez ‘20 Jan ‘21 Feb ‘21 Mär ‘21 Apr ‘21 Mai ‘21 Jun ‘21 Jul ‘21 Aug ‘21 Sep ‘21 Okt ‘21 Nov ‘21 Dez ‘21
Powertrain type Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles Battery electric vehicles
Figure 3. Share of new battery-electric and plug-in hybrid passenger cars in Germany (spotlight
of the month).
In December 2021, Germany had around 62,600 publicly accessible electric vehicle
charging points, a 40% increase from the 44,500 installed by the end of 2020.
In Germany, 15% of charging points are direct current (DC) fast charging points,
representing slightly above 9,300 units. This share is above the European average of
11% DC fast charging points. The total power capacity of publicly accessible charging
points installed in Germany is equivalent to about 2 kW per electric passenger car and
van on the road.
5 ICCT FACT SHEET | EUROPEAN PASSENGER CAR AND LIGHT-COMMERCIAL VEHICLE REGISTRATIONS
Germany
Alternating current Direct current
42,581 3,623
40,000
3,000
Number of charging points
30,000
2,137
2,000
20,000
1,133
1,000
10,000
598 635
6,309 554
458
2,217 176
815 1,397
0 0
3.7 7.4 11 22 43 25 50 100 150 200 250 300 350
Power (kW)
Figure 4. Number of publicly accessible alternating current normal (left) and direct current fast
(right) charging points in Germany at the end of 2021.
6 ICCT FACT SHEET | EUROPEAN PASSENGER CAR AND LIGHT-COMMERCIAL VEHICLE 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
20 December 2021 applies (main brands listed here): BMW Group (BMW, Mini), Ford (Ford), Hyundai
(Hyundai), Kia (Kia), Mazda-Subaru-Suzuki-Toyota (Lexus, Mazda, Subaru, Suzuki, Toyota), Mercedes-
Benz (Mercedes-Benz, Smart), Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi (Dacia, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Renault), Stellantis
(Alfa Romeo, Citroën, Fiat, Jeep, Lancia, Opel, Peugeot), Tesla-Honda-JLR (Honda, Jaguar Land Rover,
Tesla), Volvo (Volvo) and VW Group (Audi, Porsche, SEAT, Škoda, VW). For light commercial vehicles,
the “N1 pooling list”, version 20 December 2021, applies: Mercedes-Benz (Mercedes-Benz), Renault-
Nissan-Mitsubishi (Dacia, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Renault), Stellantis (Alfa Romeo, Citroën, Fiat, Opel,
Peugeot), Volkswagen-Ford-SAIC (BYD, Ford, MAN, SAIC, Polaris, Streetscooter, Volkswagen).
Abbreviations: CO2 = carbon dioxide emissions; g/km = grams per kilometer; YTD = year to date.
Technical scope: This factsheet focuses on new passenger car and light commercial vehicle
registrations.
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, and Norway. 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). Charging infrastructure data are presented for
the 27 EU members plus the 4 EFTA countries (Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Switzerland).
Data sources: AAA DATA (France), Dataforce (all other markets), Eco-Movement (charging points).
Results may change over time: Registrations and/or CO2 data may be retrospectively updated by
some of the national type approval authorities. Historical 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
2020 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) Manufacturers can reduce their CO2 level by up to 7 g/
km by deploying eco-innovation technologies. As a conservative estimate, we apply the 2020 level
of eco-innovation CO2 emission reductions per manufacturer2, (2) New passenger cars with less than
50 g/km CO2/km (NEDC) are counted 1.67 times in 2021 (super-credit). 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 2021 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 2020.3
Charging point: As defined in the Alternative Fuel Infrastructure regulation proposal, a charging point
“means a fixed or mobile interface that allows for the transfer of electricity to an electric vehicle, which,
whilst it may have one or several connectors to accommodate different connector types, is capable of
recharging only one electric vehicle at a time, and excludes devices with a power output less than or
equal to 3.7 kW the primary purpose of which is not recharging electric vehicles.”
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
www.theicct.org
introducing the WLTP, (ICCT: Washington, DC, 2020), https://theicct.org/publications/way-
real-world-co2-values-european-passenger-car-market-its-first-year-after
[email protected]
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: twitter @theicct
Washington, DC, 2018), https://theicct.org/publications/eco-innovations-european-
passenger-car-co2-standards.
3 Uwe Tietge, Peter Mock, Sonsoles Díaz, and Jan Dornoff, CO2 emissions from new passenger
cars in Europe: Car manufacturers’ performance in 2020, (ICCT: Washington, DC, 2021),
https://theicct.org/publications/eu-co2-pvs-performance-2020-aug21.
