EU car registrations 3,4% down in February, EVs 15.2% market share

According to the European Car Manufacturers Association (ACEA) date, new EU car registrations declined by 3% in February compared to the same period in 2024. Notably, the bloc’s significant markets saw declines, with Italy (-6%), Germany (-4.6%), and France (-3.3%). Spain conversely recorded an 8.4% increase.

In February 2025, the year-on-year (YOY) decline was 3.4%, with the German market seeing
the sharpest decline in volume of 6.4%, followed by Italy (-6.2%).

By Power Source

Until February 2025, battery-electric vehicles (BEVs) accounted for 15.2% of the total EU
market share, signifying an increase from the low baseline of 11.5% in January-February 2024. Hybrid-electric vehicles surged, capturing 35.2% of the market and remaining the preferred choice among EU consumers. Meanwhile, the combined market share of petrol and diesel cars fell to 38.8%, down from 48.5% over the same two-month period in 2024.

Electric

For the first two months of 2025, new battery-electric car sales grew by 28.4% to 255,489 units, capturing 15.2% of total EU market share.

Three of the four largest EV markets in the EU, accounting for 64% of all battery-electric car registrations (BEVs), recorded robust double-digit gains: Germany (+41%), Belgium (+38%), and the Netherlands (+25%). This contrasted with France, which saw a slight decline of 1.3%.

Hybrid

February 2025’s YTD figures showed new EU registrations of hybrid-electric cars (HEVs) rising by 18.7%, driven by significant growth in the four biggest markets: France (+51.4%), Spain (+31.5%), Italy (+10.4%), and Germany (+9.8%). This led to 594,059 units registered in the
first two months of 2025, representing 35.2% of the EU market share and now by far the most important category.

Registrations of plug-in hybrid electric cars (PHEVs) declined by 5% across the January-February 2025 period, with a total of 124,947 units. This decrease was primarily driven by significant reductions in key markets such as Belgium (-65.3%) and France (-49.3%). As a result, plug- in-hybrid electric cars now represent 7.4% of total car registrations in the EU.

Looking at February separately, the year-over-year variation showed a rise of 23.7% for battery-electric and 19% for hybrid-electric cars, while plug-in-hybrid electric saw a slight decline of 1.4%.

Petrol and diesel

For the first two months of 2025, petrol car registrations saw a significant decline of 20.5%, with all major markets showing decreases. France experienced the steepest drop, with registrations
plummeting by 27.5%, followed by Germany (-24.9%), Italy (-19%), and Spain (-13%).

With 489,838 new cars registered so far, the market share for petrol dropped to 29.1%, down
from 35.5% during the same period last year.

Similarly, the diesel car market declined by 28%, resulting in a 9.7% market share for diesel vehicles by February 2025. Overall, double-digit declines were observed in most EU markets.

Additionally, the February 2025 YOY variation showed a decline of 22.4% for petrol and 28.8% for diesel.

We see the same tendencies in the EFTA countries (Iceland, Norway, Switzerland) and the United Kingdom, but with an even heavier emphasis on BEVs and HEVs, petrol and diesel regressing more than in the EU.

By make

Volkswagen Group stays number one in the EU and saw its market share grow to 27.3% (up two points) for the first two months of this year and sales up 4.8%. The number two, Stellantis Group, goes the other way: 16.5% market share instead of 19.3% last year and -17.1% in sales.

Renault Group is confirming its ascent from 10.2% to 11.4% market share, with an 8.3% sales increase. Toyota Group is now firmly fourth with 8.2% market share (-0.2%) despite a 5% sales decrease.

Fifth is Hyundai Group, which saw its market share decline from 7.9% to 7.5% and sales decrease by 7.9%. BMW Group (6th) increased its market share from 6.4% to 6.8%, selling 2.5% more cars in the EU.

Mercedes-Benz (7th) saw a 5.0% sales decline and now has a 4.6% market share (-0.1%). Ford (8th) stagnates at 3% market share, and Volvo (9th) falls back from 2.6% to 2.2% share because of a 16.4% sales decrease.

The first Chinese company, SAIC Motor, now occupies 11th place, increasing sales by 39.2% and market share from 1.2% to 1.8%. Tesla (13th) takes the other course, with sales declining by 49% and market share falling from 2.1% to 1.1%.

Honda and Mitsubishi share the same market share (0.4%) and sold almost 7,000 cars, respectively, while Jaguar is virtually vanishing from the stats: in the first two months of 2025, it sold 446 cars all over the EU, down from 1,067 a year earlier (-58.2%). Luckily, there is the UK, where it still sold some 1,000 cars, but there also it’s a halvation.

Chinese strategy change

In February, European sales of Chinese cars increased by 64% despite a decline of 3.4% in BEV sales. That’s because Chinese sales of PHEVs rose by a whopping 321%, and even non-hybrid petrol models increased by 27%.

The most important makes here are MG, BYD, and Chery. Stellantis partner Leapmotor is the new kid on the block, selling 895 cars last month, most of them the very low-priced T03 tiny EV.

So, the increase in EU import tariffs on Chinese electric cars has indeed slowed down their BEV sales, but they’ve already compensated by significantly increasing the sales of hybrids and ICE cars.

The only result of the EU strategy now seems to be that the electrification of the car market in the EU is slowing down, also because the Chinese are changing their import strategy.

Tesla’s deep plunge in electric sales was mainly compensated by Chinese or Chinese-owned brands like Volvo, BYD, and Polestar. Some European car manufacturers also increased their BEV sales significantly, led by Volkswagen (+108%) and Renault (+96%).