Smart Purchase: Why Conventional Hybrids Depreciate Less?

Conventional hybrid vehicles (non-plug-in) retain an average of 70.8% of their value three years after registration, with an average market price of €21,555 in the used vehicle market. This makes them the type of car with the least depreciation, according to Ganvam.

Thus, models with this non-plug-in hybrid propulsion - which accounted for 37% of registrations by the end of the first quarter, compared to 31% in the same period of 2024 - are currently the least depreciated.

Specifically, their residual value is more than three percentage points higher than their petrol counterparts, which, after 60,000 kilometres, retain 67% of their value compared to the retail price recorded three years ago, with an average price of just over €16,200.

In the case of diesel - a motorisation that has been losing prominence in the market in recent years, accounting for 18.5% of registrations in the first quarter - the Ganvam-DAT index reveals that, after 36 months and 90,000 kilometres, it retains 65% of its initial value.

When analysing the depreciation of electrified vehicles, the data shows that - although their value evolves at a faster pace than their combustion counterparts due to rapid technological advances - battery warranties allow a pure electric vehicle to retain 50% of its value after three years and 60,000 kilometres, reaching 61% in the case of plug-in hybrids.

According to Ganvam's general director, Fernando Miguélez, "this behaviour of electrified vehicles, which exceeds initial expectations, turns the second-hand market into a lever to accelerate the decarbonisation of the fleet, allowing tighter budgets to access a young used electric model from fleets with all guarantees."

In addition to focusing on motorisations, the Ganvam-DAT index also analyses the value of second-hand vehicles by age. In this case, considering the weighting by age brackets, with half of sales concentrated in models over 10 years old, the average price of used vehicles was around €14,500 at the end of the first quarter, representing an increase of 4.7% compared to the same period last year, mainly due to the demand pressure from models over 15 years old, whose price has grown by 11.5% in the last year, reaching €5,017.

If these older and higher mileage vehicles, where the technological component is also lower, are excluded from the equation, and the average price of vehicles less than ten years old is calculated, it stands at €20,893, 2.2% less than the first quarter of last year, due to a greater supply of used vehicles from leasing and rental fleets.