The European Automobile Industry Association (EAA) said on March 13 that Germany's electric vehicle sales in January this year were 18,100 units, down 13.2 percent year-on-year; Sweden's 4,202 units, down 18.5 percent year-on-year; and Norway's 1,327 units, plummeting 81.4 percent year-on-year, according to a March 14 report by South Korea's Newseum. Subsidy withdrawal is the main reason for the sharp drop in electric vehicle sales in these countries. It is reported that Germany last year for the purchase of electric vehicles under 40,000 euros to pay up to 6,000 euros subsidy, this year is reduced to 4,500 euros; for more than 40,000 euros of electric vehicle subsidies from 5,000 euros to 3,000 euros, plug-in hybrid car purchase subsidies were directly canceled. Other European countries have also reduced their EV subsidies to varying degrees.

There are concerns that if the European electric vehicle subsidy policy continues to decline, it will have a negative impact on the Korean car companies entering the European market. Last year, South Korea's Hyundai and Kia electric car sales in some European countries among the top three, in January this year in the European market sales of only 9,753 units, down 28.5% year-on-year.