In 2025, new EU car registrations increased by 1.8% compared to the same period last year, according to data from the Association of European Car Manufacturers ACEA. However, overall volumes remain well below pre-pandemic levels. In December, the EU’s new-car market grew by 5.8%.
The battery-electric car market share reached 17.4%, in line with projections for the year, yet still a level that leaves room for growth to stay on track with the transition. Hybrid-electric vehicles (HEVs) lead as the most popular powertrain choice among buyers, with plug-in hybrids consolidating their position in the market.
By power source
As said, battery-electric cars accounted for 17.4% of the EU market share in 2025, a significant increase from the low baseline of 13.6% one year earlier. Hybrid-electric car registrations captured 34.5% of the market, remaining the preferred choice among consumers in the EU. Meanwhile, the combined market share of petrol and diesel cars fell to 35.5%, down almost 10%, from 45.2% in 2024.
Electric
In 2025, 1,880,370 new battery-electric cars were registered, capturing 17.4% of the EU market share. The four largest markets in the EU, which together account for 62% of battery- electric car registrations, saw growth: Germany (+43.2%), the Netherlands (+18.1%), Belgium (+12.6%), and France (+12.5%).
The year-over-year (YOY) variation for December 2025 showed a 51% surge in battery-electric cars.
Hybrid
January to December 2025 figures also showed new EU hybrid-electric car registrations rising to 3,733,325 units (+13.7%), driven by growth in the four biggest markets: Spain (+23.1%), France (+21.6%), Germany (+8%), and Italy (+7.9%). Hybrid-electric models account for 34.5% of the total EU market.
Registrations of plug-in hybrid electric cars continued to grow, reaching 1,015,887 units (+33.4%) during the same period. This was driven by increases in volume across key markets, including Spain (+111.7%), Italy (+86.6%), and Germany (+62.3%). Therefore, plug-in hybrid electric cars now account for 9.4% of EU car registrations, up from 7.2% last year.
The year-over-year (YOY) variation for December 2025 showed a surge of 36.7% for plug-in-hybrid electric cars, while hybrid-electric vehicles recorded a 5.8% increase.
Petrol and diesel
By the end of 2025, petrol car registrations fell by 18.7%, with all major markets seeing declines. France experienced the steepest drop, with registrations plummeting by 32%, followed by Germany (-21.6%), Italy (-18.2%), and Spain (-16%). With 2,880,298 new cars registered in 2025, the market share for petrol fell to 26.6% from 33.3% a year earlier.
The diesel car market continued to decline, with registrations down by 24.2%, resulting in an 8.9% share in 2025. Moreover, the December 2025 YOY variation showed a 19.2% decline in petrol and a 22.4% decline in diesel.
The same tendencies can be noticed in the EFTA countries (Iceland, Norway, Switzerland) and the United Kingdom. Of course, the EFTA countries, led by Norway, already have a far larger share of battery-electric cars, while in Switzerland, hybrid electric cars are by far the biggest sellers.
By make
When we look into the performance of the different brands, Volkswagen Group is confirming its dominance. It increased its sales by 10% in December and by 5.5% over the year, further increasing its market share to 27.6% (+0.9 percentage points). The biggest winner was Cupra (+35.8%), the biggest loser was Porsche (-17.1%).
Stellantis Group stays number two over the whole year, but its market share declines from 16.4% to 15.3%, resulting from a 4.7% decline in sales. In December, figures are even worse, with only 12.4% market share, very close to the 12.3% of Renault Group.
The latter has firmly established itself as number three on the EU market, with an 11.5% market share in 2025 (up 0.5 percentage points) and a sales increase by 5.6%. All brands in the group are selling more, but Alpine’s 121.9% sales increase is most noticeable, driven by the arrival of the A290 BEV.
There’s an increasingly tight battle for fourth place, ultimately won by Hyundai Group, despite its decline in sales(-3.1%) and in market share (from 7.8 to 7.5%). The sales decline is primarily due to Kia (-6.2%). That’s almost the same loss as the Toyota Group (-6.3% in sales), resulting in a decline in market share from 8.0% to 7.4% and the loss of fourth place.
Still in sixth place but very close to the two Asian groups is BMW Group, which sold 6.4% more cars in the EU in 2025 and increased its market share from 6.8% to 7.1%. Mini saw its sales increase by 20%. Finally, the last one scoring a market share above 5% is Mercedes-Benz, with a 5.3% share (the same as last year) and a slight increase in sales (+1.5%).
In 2024, Ford was still in a close battle with Volvo, but last year the gap widened. The American car maker sold 2.3% fewer cars and saw its market share drop from 2.9% to 2.8%, while Volvo Cars’ 14.5% sales decline pushed its market share from 2.7% to 2.2%. In December, however, Volvo sold more than 2,000 cars more than Ford, confirming its new start in sales, which will probably be confirmed with the launch of the EX60.
Two Chinese brands in the lift
For the first time, there’s a Chinese manufacturer in the top 10 of EU car sales.SAIC Motor. In 2024, it still had to let Tesla, Nissan, and Suzuki occupy places 10 to 12; now it has climbed to 10th place thanks to a 33.9% sales increase, with 1.9% market share (up 0.4 percentage points).
Nissan has lost 2.1% of sales and seen its market share shrink to 1.8%, but it still holds on to the 11th position. For 12th position, there was a very tight battle in Europe between Tesla and Suzuki. The Americans sold 255 more cars in 2025 than Suzuki did (on a total of more than 150,000 for both), despite their huge 37.9% sales decrease. Suzuki couldn’t just jump over Tesla because it also lost 13.7% in sales.
Fourteenth place goes to the big winner of the year, the second Chinese brand, BYD. Build Your Dreams more than tripled its sales in the EU in 2024 (39,303 to 128,887, or +227.8%) and increased its market share from 0.4% to 1.2%. It surpassed Mazda (1.1% market share, -13.5% sales) and Jaguar Land Rover (0.5% share, -17% sales). JLR’s sales decline is, of course, almost entirely due to the disappearance of Jaguar: in 2024, the English brand still sold 5,688 cars in the EU; in 2025, it was 935 (-83.6%). In December 2024, Jaguar still sold 372 cars, in December 2025… 1 (one)!
Finally, the battle for 19th place last year was won by Honda over Mitsubishi. While Honda managed to increase sales by 12.6%, Mitsubishi lost 23.6% of its total sales in the EU. Both are turning around 45,000 sales (with a difference of merely 500) and a 0.4% market share.
When taking sales from the EFTA countries and the UK into account, the trends remain the same, but the rankings differ slightly, with the BMW Group overtaking the Toyota Group for fifth place.
