The car, tirelessly tracked by government policies, nevertheless keeps the coast among individuals. The Association of European Automobile Manufacturers (ACEA) provided a study on vehicles in circulation. Where the dissonance between the park and the speeches makes you smile.
Take the height to stick to reality. This is encouraged by the wealth of data collected by ACEA in a comprehensive report of the vehicle fleet in Europe. Because if the brands are summoned to electrify their range by 2035, thermal cars are still very much in the majority. And diesel is far from being forgotten, especially in France. The argus analyzed the statistics of the 5 main European markets over the period 2016-2020. The United Kingdom has been included in our analysis, since Brexit has only been effective since 1er January 2021.
>> All our infographics on the European car fleet <<
Germany, the most autophilic country
In 2020, the total number of passenger cars in Europe – including the UK – peaked at 282.8 million, i.e. +7.2% over one year. Germany remains the most car-loving country on the Old Continent with 48.2 million private vehicles in circulation. Italy climbs on the 2and step of the podium (39.7 million) ahead of France (38.3 million). The United Kingdom (36.6 million) and Spain (25.2 million) complete this top 5. With the exception of France, all countries experienced an increase in their vehicle fleet in 2020, a year marked by the Covid-19 pandemic. LThe English even observe a 3.7% increase in their fleet compared to 2019 alone.he coronavirus pandemic clearly seems to have created new personal mobility needs to which the automobile has responded perfectly.
Italy, number 1 in the number of cars per capita
We counted approximately 530 cars per 1,000 inhabitants in 2016 compared to 552 in 2020 in Europe. Italy stands out and explodes this score with an average of 666 vehicles. The country can count on the pride of Italians in driving a national brand vehicle (Fiat, Lancia, Alfa Romeo, etc.) and large-scale leasing, which lowers the cost of purchasing a vehicle. new. Also note that the second-hand market has good deals with prices up to 20% lower than what can be found in France, for an identical model.
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Average vehicle age in Europe
The average age of vehicles in Europe is 10.6 years. Spain and Italy do worse with 13.1 and 11.8 respectively. In France, it is 10.3 years according to ACEA figures. The car is expensive and its replacement is far from obvious for the majority of households. Add to this a European context that is not very favorable to internal combustion vehicles and traffic restrictions that are set to increase… European motorists seem a little lost or reluctant to replace their car and prefer to capitalize on their good old “tiny” .
What are the most popular energies?
A look at the type of fuel used for passenger cars in 2020 confirms this discrepancy. In France and Spain, diesel still represents more than 57% of the car fleet. More than one in two cars will therefore no longer be able to drive in ZFEs in a few years, ie millions of copies. In France, cars between 10 and 15 years old represent the largest share of the fleet (10 million) ahead of those between 0 and 3 years old (6.6 million).
The five countries mentioned above thus have less than 1% of 100% electric vehicles and around 2% of hybrid cars. Admittedly, this is to be put into perspective given the growing sales of electrified models in recent years. But it is however a tiny part, constantly put forward by European policies.
Anecdotes about the French car fleet
Let’s finish with some figures on our beautiful country, testifying to the still preponderant place of the car. 85.2% of French households thus own at least one vehicle and 31.7% even have two.. Even if this trend tends to decrease, we cannot ignore the majority of these people for whom the car remains the preferred means of transport. Furthermore, the second-hand market accounts for 59% of all registered vehicles. In the first quarter of 2021, for example, 1.6 million used cars were sold in France, for around 1.7 million new cars… over the whole year! Also note that the average distance traveled by a passenger car is less than 12,000 km. This means that the home-to-work journey is still well established and constitutes the main part of the journeys of a particular car. According to an Ipsos study carried out for the Fabrique de la Cité in January 2022, three-quarters of French people (75%) use their car to get around on a daily basis for reasons of convenience and speed. If 51% of respondents would like to use another means of transport to get around, they also concede that this is not possible at all.
