It’s a new record as electric car sales set a new record market share in the European Union in 2022, even if their growth has slowed slightly, according to figures released Wednesday, Feb. 1, by manufacturers.

Electric car sales accounted for 12.1% of new car sales for the year, compared with 9.1% in 2021, or 1.9% in 2019, the Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA) said Wednesday in a statement.

The car market is in crisis, but electric sales are soaring: they have increased by 28%, compared to 2021, to over 1.1 million vehicles.

The current very good results are due to the German market, where they accelerated at the end of the year before a drop in purchase bonuses.

Also, the Scandinavian country’s electric cars are very successful in Sweden or Belgium, while the Italian market was the only one to give a brake on this motorization in 2022 (-26.9%).

But non-rechargeable hybrids (diesel or gasoline) also continue to conquer the market (+8.6%) and now account for 22.6% of sales, with 2,089,653 cars sold.

Sales of rechargeable hybrids, these vehicles equipped with a combustion engine and a small electric motor that can be recharged at a socket or terminal, were down for the first time, with 874,182 vehicles sold (+1.2%).

The balance is very positive, electrified cars (hybrids and 100% electric) exceed the end of 2021 sales of gasoline cars: they accounted for 36.4% of sales over the year 2022 (-12.8%, with nearly 3.3 million vehicles sold).

It was that manufacturers invest heavily in this market of electric cars because, the European Commission aims to ban sales of cars with internal combustion engines by 2035, most manufacturers have muscled their offer, and their sales, of electric and hybrid cars, even if their prices remain high.

On the other hand, nothing is going well for diesel, which has been hit hard by the dieselgate scandal, strong malus and a shrinking offer in the manufacturers’ ranges, continue on its downward slope (-19.7%), with 1.5 million vehicles sold.