European car sales fell in January as burning engines outweighed EV profits

Story: New car sales in Europe fell by more than 2% in January.

The jump in all-electric and hybrid electric vehicle registrations in major markets is not enough to compensate for the decline in gasoline and diesel sales.

Industry data showed on Tuesday (February 25) that overall sales in France, Italy, Germany and the UK all fell compared to last year.

Only Spain saw year-on-year growth in the country with the highest sales.

EU executives will introduce the auto industry plans after meeting with automakers, trade unions and interest groups in early March.

Automakers are working to compete with Chinese competitors and support our tariffs.

They urged the commission to exempt potential fines from the CO2 emission target that came into effect in January.

Some automakers have raised prices on gasoline engine models to encourage adoption of electric vehicles.

But the industry is concerned that customers will only buy fewer cars.

Sales in the EU, the UK and the European Free Trade Area in January were just below 1 million vehicles, the lowest sales since August.

Volkswagen and Renault registered 5.3% and 5.4% respectively, while Strantis registered 16%.

In the EU, even though registrations for battery-electric and hybrid vehicles grew by 34% and 18.4%, respectively, sales fell by 2.6%.

U.S. President Donald Trump has raised tariffs on aluminum and steel and threatened to impose a 25% tariff on imports from Mexico and Canada, as well as all automobiles and semiconductors.