According to data from the European Car Manufacturers Association (ACEA), new EU car registrations rose 5.7% year-to-date, with a strong June performance (+13.6%) contributing to a positive first half of 2026. This came against a backdrop of persistent geopolitical headwinds weighing on the outlook.

The market continued to benefit from robust consumer demand for a range of electrified technologies, driven primarily by market support measures. Hybrid-electric vehicles led as the most popular powertrain choice among
buyers, while battery-electric cars reached 20.7%. In addition, plug-in hybrids captured 9.8% of the EU market.

By power source

Up until June 2026, battery-electric cars held a 20.7% share of the EU market, up from 15.6% a year earlier. Hybrid-electric car registrations captured 37.3% of the market, remaining the preferred choice among consumers in the EU. At the same time, the combined market share of petrol and diesel cars fell to 29.7%, compared with 37.8% a year earlier.

Electric

In the first half of 2026, 1,220,890 new battery-electric cars were registered (+40.5% compared to last year), capturing 20.7% of the EU market. Three of the four largest EU markets, which together accounted for 63% of all battery-electric car registrations, experienced strong growth: France (+62.9%), Germany (+48%), and Denmark (+41.2%). Belgium also posted an increase (+8.2%), albeit at a more moderate pace, but it already has a serious electric share of the market thanks to company car policies.

Hybrid

H1 2026’s figures also showed new EU hybrid-electric car registrations rising to 2,198,148 units (+13.2%), supported by growth in Italy (+23%) and Spain (+20.8%), with Germany (+6.9%) and France (+3.2%) also recording increases. Overall, hybrid-electric models accounted for 37.3% of the total EU market.

Registrations of plug-in-hybrid electric cars continued to grow (+22.5%), reaching 577,735 units in H1 2026. This was driven by rising volumes in key markets such as Italy (+84.3%), Spain (+39%), and Germany (+17.9%). New plug-in-hybrid electric cars now represent 9.8% of EU registrations, up from 8.5% over the same period in 2025.

Petrol and diesel

By the end of June 2026, petrol car registrations declined by 17.2%, with decreases across all major markets. France registered the strongest drop, with volumes falling by 34.2%, while other key markets also posted double-digit decreases: Spain (-18.5%), Germany (-18.2%), and Italy (-17.1%). With 1,309,153 new cars registered in the first six months of 2026, the market share for petrol fell to 22.2% from 28.4% in H1 2025.

Meanwhile, the diesel car market also continued its downward trend, with registrations declining by 16.5% and accounting for 7.5% of new car registrations, down from 9.4%.

Looking at the EFTA countries (Iceland, Norway and Switzerland) and the UK, we see the same tendencies, with the exception that in Iceland only fully electric cars gain significantly (+39.5%), while in Norway there are practically no other registrations anymore except for pure electric vehicles. Switzerland and the UK follow the EU trends.

By make

Looking solely at the June registrations, we see BMW Group climbing to fourth position with a market share of 7%, behind the Volkswagen Group (25.4% market share), Stellantis (14.8%), and Renault Group (11.8%). Hyundai Group (6.6%) and Toyota Group (6.4%) come fifth and sixth, Mercedes-Benz (4.9%) being seventh.

After that, market share almost halves, and many makes, or groups, battle around 2 to 3%. Two noticeable facts: Tesla is affirming its comeback, with a market share of 3.1% in June (up from 2.0%), and the Chinese are persevering.

Now that ACEA has put all the Geely brands in one basket, Geely Group takes ninth place with 2.9% market share, followed by two other Chinese manufacturers, BYD (2.7%) in tenth place and SAIC Motor (2.4%) in eleventh. Ford (2.2%)is the only other manufacturer still reaching more than 2% market share, while another Chinese group, Chery Automobile, comes in thirtheenth with 1.6% of the market. Stellantis partner Leapmotor has climbed to 17th place by selling 5 times more cars and increasing its market share from 0.2% to 0.9%.

Cumulated

When we look at the first half of the year, we see the usual three at the top: VW Group has a 26.5% market share, Stellantis has 16.4%, and Renault Group ends up at 10.5%.

Behind the top three, a big battle is going on: Hyundai Group remains fourth with a 7.0% market share (down from 7.4%), Toyota Group is fifth with 6.9% (also down from 7.4%), while BMW Group equals its market share from last year at 6.8%. This means that the differences between these three groups, each selling more than 400,000 cars in H1, are less than 10,000 cars. Only 1,281 cars separate Hyundai and Toyota; BMW comes 6,191 cars behind. Mercedes-Benz remains seventh with 4.9% market share.

For the first six months, Geely Group is the first Chinese make in eighth place with 2.7% market share, preceding Ford, which slipped to ninth because of a sales loss of 20.2% and a market share declining from 3.0 ot 2.3%. The other two in the top ten are also Chinese: BYD now has 2.2% of the market and just jumped over SAIC Motor, which also has 2.2% market share but sold 3,158 cars less in six months (130,743 compared to 127,585 vehicles).

Tesla jumps to twelfth place again, thanks to a 75.4% increase in sales and a market share rise from 1.3% to 2.1%. The American brand is followed by Nissan (13th, 1.8%), then another Chinese manufacturer, Chery Automobile (14th, 1.4%).

The rest of the top 20 is as follows: Suzuki (15th, 1.3%), Mazda (16th, 1.2%), Leapmotor (17th, 0.8%), Jaguar Land Rover Group (18th, 0.5%), Honda (19th, 0.5%), and Mitsubishi (20th, 0.3%).

When one includes the EFTA countries and the UK, BMW Group becomes fifth and overtakes Toyota, and Chery Automobile jumps over Nissan. Leapmotor has to give way to Jaguar Land Rover Group for 17th place, thanks to a still strong performance of the latter in its home turf, more than doubling the sales figures of the whole EU.