Electric and Hybrid Car Sales Down in Hungary

The sales of hybrid and electric vehicles fell sharply in Hungary in January, the business news site hvg.hu writes.

While in December 2020, the number of environmentally friendly new cars increased by 1,443 vehicles, in January the green license plate granted to such vehicles was installed on 'only' 819 cars in Hungary, the news site quotes villanyautok.hu, a web page specialzed on electric vehicles. This is still an increase of 24.3% from a year earlier, but a significant decline from last year’s 45% growth.

The explanation, according to the analysis at villanyautok.hu, is that due to the European CO2 restrictions, importers tried to sweep out stocks at the end of last year to balance sales and thus avoid fines. Most manufacturers managed to survive the year without penalty.

Among the newly registered green license plates, all-electric vehicles had the highest number with 391 cars in January, while the number of plug-ins fell significantly short of the 280 sales figure in December and increased by just 148 vehicles in January.