According to data from the federal public service Mobility and the sector federation Febiac, 43,733 new cars were registered in Belgium and Luxembourg, an increase of 8.8% compared to last year. In the first three months (YTD), 113,805 new cars were sold, a 5.9% decrease from the same period last year.

Most noticeable in March: a perfect division between the professional car segment and individual buyers: 50/50%. Undoubtedly, there are two reasons for this: the Brussels Motor Show, which was a big success and attracted many individual buyers, and, secondly, a rather prudent professional market in view of what’s happening in the world.

With 43.1% of all cars sold, gasoline-driven vehicles remain the largest group, but battery electric cars (BEVs) are catching up (35.9%), while hybrids (PHEVs and HEVs) are the third-largest category with 17.5% of total. Diesel cars account for a mere 2.5%. The proportions are almost the same when we take the first quarter of 2026 as a whole.

Other categories

The two-wheelers are off to a very good start in 2026. In March, sales rose 10.2%, while 6,990 motorized two-wheelers were sold in the first quarter, 22.8% more than in the first quarter of last year.

There seems to be a renewed interest in motorbikes. Almost all of them (96.5%) are still gasoline-driven, 2.7% of the scooters and motorbikes are electric, but their number is slowly increasing.

In March, 6,197 light commercial vehicles (LCVs) were sold, 4% more than in the same month last year. Over the first three months of 2026, the result is still negative: -5.6% compared to last year’s first quarter.

Here, diesel remains the dominant driving mode, accounting for 85.4% of all registrations (YTD), but gasoline (5.2%), hybrid (4%), and full-electric (5.4%) are gaining ground.

Where heavy trucks are concerned, the market seems to be slowly recovering from the first two months: for trucks under 16 tons, sales went up 10.8% in March, reducing the disastrous percentage for the first two months to -36%. Trucks above 16 tons saw a 4% increase in sales in March, while the first quarter saw a 9% decline.

By brand

March has been a far better month for BMW than the other two, with a 34.5% increase in sales (YOY), they take first place again from Volkswagen, which sold a little less than last year (-1.2%).

With a 6.2% increase in sales, Audi takes third place, and the battle for fourth has been (very narrowly) won by Peugeot (+10.5%) over Mercedes (-12.5%).

Renault is sixth, with sales increasing by 7.7%, followed by low-cost daughter Dacia, which saw an 8.6% sales slump. Skoda (eighth) continues to sell well (+13.5%) and thus overtakes Toyota (ninth), which sold 9.9% less. Tenth place comes as a surprise: Tesla is back again, with an 88.5% sales increase.

Other serious winners were, of course, the Chinese: MG (18th, +99.5%), BYD (19th, +85.3%), Leapmotor (28th, +483.7%), Xpeng (31st, +83.2%), Omoda (33rd, +385%),  and Jaecoo (35th, +608%). Of course, for the last three brands, we’re still speaking of low absolute sales numbers.

Ford (11th, +14.3%), Opel (13th, +23.1%), Fiat (21st, +43.7%), Mazda (22nd, +30.7%), Jeep (24th, +35.8%), and Honda (28th, +40.3%) also did well, as did Korean KG Mobility (37th, +197.5%), but we’re talking very small numbers here.

There weren’t many big losers in March, but worth mentioning are Nissan (20th, -27.8%), Land Rover (27th, -31.3%), Porsche (29th, -20.4%), Seat (34th, -38%), and Lexus (40th, -41.9%).

Cumulated

Looking at the first quarter of 2026, the strong result in March has allowed BMW to leapfrog Volkswagen again into first place, with an 11.1% market share, against 9.3% for Volkswagen. Third is Mercedes (7.2%), followed by the two French, Peugeot (4th, 6.4%) and Renault (5th, 6.3%).

Audi is sixth (6.1% market share), followed by Dacia (5.3%). The battle between Skoda (8th, 4.7%) and Toyota (9th, 4.5%) has, here also, been won by the Czech; tenth is Kia (3.6%).

Opel (11th, 3.5%) was found in a tight battle with Tesla (12th, also 3.5%), with only a 15-car difference. Volvo has tumbled to 13th place (3.2%). MG remains the first Chinese brand at place 18 (1.6% market share), and BYD is now 20th, with 1.4% market share.

Notable losers in Q1 sales were Volvo (-20.3%), Hyundai (-27.2%), Nissan (-37.7%), Porsche (-27.7%), Seat (-50.4%), Polestar (-22%), Land Rover (-53.4%), Alfa Romeo (-24.9%), and Lexus (-28.1%).