Spain’s sales of electric and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV) accounted for less than 10pc of the country’s total automobile sales in October.

Total sales of 79,462 automobiles in October rose by 10pc from a year earlier, according to car manufacturers association Anfac.

The increase contrasted with an 8pc fall in total sales in the first 10 months of the year.

Electric and PHEV vehicles accounted for 9.1pc of the October sales volume. The total was up from an 8.5pc share in the first ten months of the year but down from 10.1pc in September.

Their share of total sales rose strongly in 2020 and first-half 2021 but showed signs of plateauing from the third quarter of last year.

Total sales of alternatively-powered vehicles, including hybrid-electric vehicles similarly rose strongly until mid-2021.

They have held at around 35pc of total automobile sales since then, and 36.8pc in October.