EQ at Mercedes-Benz, ID. at Volkswagen, E-Tech at Renault, EV at Kia, IONIQ at Hyundai. To say that Car manufacturers are developing more and more electric models would be an understatement.

Electricity sales in Europe are growing rapidly

The French love it : Last year 100% electric cars accounted for 16.8% of registrations compared to 13.3% in 2022! It’s simple, the share of electric, and this is very symbolic, even exceeded diesel last year. That’s only 9.7% of registrations, or less than 10%, of “peanuts”! It’s the same story all over Europe, because Electric has overtaken diesel and now accounts for 14.6% of registrations, up from 12.1% in 2022.
ACEA, the European Automobile Manufacturers Association, welcomed this: “ The total amount [des immatriculations de voitures électriques, NDLR] exceeded 1.5 million units for the full year of 2023, representing a significant increase of 37% compared to 2022. The market share of battery electric vehicles reached 14.6% in 2023.” But at the other end of the globe there is a country where we are much more enthusiastic about the idea of ​​going electric: Japan. Of course, in 2023, the registration of this type of model increased by almost 50% to 88,535 units (Nissan, Mitsubishi Motors, then Toyota are in the lead), but they do not represent only 2.2% of the total number of registrations.

The Japanese love hybrids

The country remains very attached to the hybrid, which just set a new record… For the first time in its historyThe Japanese bought more hybrid cars than petrol cars: 55% MRP compared to 36% MRP! It must be said that the archipelago has democratized this type of technology. This is Really Toyota with its Priuswhich released the first hybrid model in 1997 (gasoline/electricity) in a large series!
Honda, Nissan, Suzuki, Mitsubishi Motors and Mazda (to name only the most important) responded, and since then they have largely specialized in it. According to a Japanese study cited by Bloomberg, this figure is expected to continue to rise in the coming years: we expect 67.1% hybrid registrations by 2030. The trend is completely opposite to that observed in Europe. That explains it too why many Japanese manufacturers – in particular Toyota, Suzuki and Mitsubishi – are slowly expanding the range of battery models.

An expert always quoted by Bloomberg summed it up this way: “The priority of Japanese companies is to sell electric cars not at home, but in the United States and China, where political support is greater. »

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