13% More New Passenger Cars Registered in Hungary in 2024

The market for passenger cars in Hungary showed a significant growth in 2024, with 121,607 such vehicles registered in the country in 2024, 13% more than in the previous year, the Hungarian Association of Motor Vehicle Importers (MGE) has told MTI.

They noted that there has been an extraordinary growth in the electric car sector, with 47.8% more electric cars registered in Hungary than in 2023, thanks to the renewed state support and the increasing number of electric models.

At the same time, only 7% of the new cars registered were electric, which is still very low by European or global standards and the average rate in the region.

The Hungarian car market is following global trends, but due to certain regional specificities, combustion engines are expected to remain dominant here, the association added.

In their summary, the number of registrations of small passenger cars also increased significantly, with 24,772 small passenger cars registered, compared to 20,744 in 2023. The small car market has outperformed the same period a year ago in every quarter, with the second quarter particularly strong this year.

Last year, 5,281 large commercial vehicles were registered in Hungary, a 16.5% decrease compared to 2023. The association said the main reasons for the decline were economic uncertainty and rising costs.

High fuel and energy prices and expensive financing options have led companies to focus on maintaining existing vehicles rather than buying new ones, with many companies postponing or reducing fleet renewal.

It was pointed out that the number of buses and coaches put into service was 416, a drop of 50.4%. The decline in the bus and coach market is also mainly due to the backlog of purchases and the relatively high base year of 2023.

Sales of heavy road trailers fell by 17% last year to 3,028 units. The road trailer market has followed the heavy truck market, so the decline is a natural consequence of the fall in demand for heavy trucks, they added.

The market for motorcycles has shown positive trends for a long time. Last year, 8,054 motorcycles were registered, an increase of 22.8% compared to the previous year.

Last year, 110,960 used cars were registered, an increase of 5% compared to the previous year. A particularly positive development is that more new passenger cars were registered in 2024 than used cars, which means that after 2023, more new cars will be on Hungarian roads in 2024 than used cars.

This is a particularly positive development when you consider that the Hungarian car fleet is made up of older cars, as the average Hungarian car is nearly 16 years old, the association pointed out.

For 2025, it expects the market performance in the vast majority of vehicle categories to be the same as in 2024.

Minimal growth is expected in the electric car market thanks to government incentives, and an increase of at least 5% is forecast for motorcycles by 2025.