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But what is happening with the sales of electric cars around the world ? As reported by Le Monde, several factors are causing a clear slowdown in the market at the start of 2024, which either in China, in Europe (12% of sales in February compared to an average of 14.6% in 2023) and in the United States.
Overall, France is rather an exception with, on the contrary, slight growth in sales. But what we see is that elsewhere in the region the fall is in some cases dizzying. Le Monde talks in particular about the case of Germany where sales fell by 29% in March 2024. That is to say the passage of an average of 18.4% of sales in 2023 compared to 12 % in March.
Why electric convinces fewer buyers in 2024 ?
In France, the maintenance of significant aid for the purchase of electric cars, the launch of social leasing and the arrival of rather inexpensive models seems to save the situation, with an increase to 18% at the end of the first quarter compared to 15.4% in 2023. But everywhere else, the ;(also) massive debt of States, rather leads to closing the aid tap.
Which largely explains this situation, even if it means putting European manufacturers currently banking on electric vehicles in a particularly difficult situation. Dependence on aid thus remains a major problem while its cost and the debt of States tend to reduce it – and that the category remains less profitable than that of thermal and hybrid cars.
But there is also the problem of convincing more motorists to switch to ;#8217;electric. Manufacturers indeed seem to have, for the moment, mainly reached 'early adopters'. already acquired in the category. Persuading the rest of the buyers remains a different story for the moment, while some fear that the autonomy of this type of vehicle will not be enough for them, that they will have to deal with charging times are too long, or they face huge costs when changing batteries, among other concerns.
In China another problem complicates the situation: the particularly fierce competition from manufacturers on prices is reducing the attractiveness of the market… even though the profitability of these vehicles remains well below that of other categories. More generally, corporate fleets are still struggling to adopt the category, everywhere… including in France. A problem when this market generally drives sales upwards.
Jamel Taganza, analyst at Inovev cited by our colleagues, thinks that if the question of the purchase price of electric cars is not resolved, sales should experience a clear decline for three to four years. However, we can hope for a turnaround in the situation. Several brands, notably French manufacturers like Citroën or Stellantis are preparing or have launched at least one reference bringing the entry ticket down to around €25,000.
- The electric car market is clearly declining around the world at the end of the first quarter of 2024.
- France is an exception, but one thing stands out: the question of aid and the price of the category.
- L& ;#8217;arrival of cheaper models could, however, reverse the situation.
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