Belgium 2024. EV Growth Stands Out Among European Sector Leaders

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Volkswagen ID.3 2024
Volkswagen ID.3 2024

Belgium Car Market took a hit in 2024, dropping 6% to 448,275 units. Yet, EV segment bucked the trend, surging 35.7%. Tesla, the top EV seller, made waves by breaking into the Top 10 brands with double-digit growth.

Market Trend and Outlook

Belgium’s economy is projected to grow by 1.1% in 2024, gradually rising to 1.5% by 2026, driven by improving domestic and external demand. Inflation is expected to peak at 4.4% in 2024 due to the withdrawal of energy support measures, then decline to 1.9% by 2026.

Employment growth will remain sluggish, with unemployment stable around 5.6%. Weak private consumption and subdued residential investment will constrain growth, though business investment and exports are set to recover as financing conditions improve. Rising ageing-related costs and interest expenditures will widen the government deficit from 4.6% of GDP in 2024 to 5.3% in 2026. Public debt is forecast to increase steadily, reaching 107.2% of GDP by 2026. Despite a moderate economic recovery, fiscal challenges and structural pressures, including demographic trends, weigh on Belgium’s long-term outlook.

Belgium’s EV market surged 35.7% in 2024, despite the sluggish economic outlook, making it one of Europe’s fastest-growing EV markets, with 11.4% of total car sales.

Tesla dominated , up 45.5% and claiming nearly half the market share. Volkswagen held strong in 2nd, while BYD climbed to 3rd with impressive gains.

Meanwhile, the overall car market struggled, shrinking 6% to 448,278 units. Despite a strong start to the year, weak Q3 and Q4 sales solidified the downward trend.

Looking at cumulative data up to December 2024 brand-wise, BMW secured 1st position with 50,428 sales (-0.3%), followed by Volkswagen with 42,334 units sold (-6.5%).

In third place ranked Audi with 32,661 sales (-7.7%) ahead of Mercedes with 31,598 registrations (-10.4%), Dacia -up 4 spots- at 24,465 (+16.5%), Volvo -up 3 spots- with 24,221 (+13.6%) and Toyota -up 2 spots- with 23,615 registrations (+0.3%).

Renault dropped 2 spots into 8th with 23,559 (-4.6%) followed by Peugeot  -down 4 spots- with 21,869 (-25.5%) and by Tesla -up 3 spots- in 10th place with 21,182 (+32.3%).

Looking at specific models, the BMW 4 Series became the new best seller, growing 130 spots and achieving a staggering 1947.4% increase in year-on-year sales. The Tesla Model Y followed in 2nd (+10.3%).

Medium-Term Market Trend

The car passenger’s market in Belgium is a mature market, with high share taken by premium brands, and in the decade before covid era has been stable, oscillating around half million annual sales.

The arrival of the pandemic caused the market to collapse 21.5% in 2020. This fall in sales, would mark the Belgian market for the following years.

In fact auto sales continued to fall in 2021, dropping another 11.2%. Despite slowing down, the fall continued in 2022 with sales reaching 366,087 (-4.4%).

The continuous increase in vehicle prices is a main driver in the slowing down of sales, making it harder for lower income families to buy cars. Another factor that puts downward pressure on demand is the Eu’s push towards EVs, an expensive alternative to traditional combustion engine cars. Despite these factors, in 2023 the market boomed 30.1% respectively to the previous year, YTD figures at 476,462.

Tables with sales figures

In the tables below we report sales for all Brands and top 10 Manufacturers Group.

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