According to data from the sector federation Febiac and the federal public service Mobility and Transport, 29,274 new cars were registered in July, 7.4% fewer than in July 2025. After 7 months in 2026, 266,209 new cars were registered, and that’s a decline of 2.4% compared to last year.

As the professional car market is now growing again, the market share of BEVs is growing with it. For the second month in a row, BEVs lead the Belux market, at 42.9%, followed by hybrids (HEVs) at 24.3% and petrol cars, which fell back to 23.6%. When one also takes PHEVs (6.1%) into account, the share of electrified vehicles on the Belgian market is now 72.3%, or almost 3 out of 4.

Looking at the motorized two-wheelers, we see a slight decline of 3.7% in July, but for the first seven months the trend is still very positive, with a +10.2% compared to January-July 2025.

The light commercial vehicles market (LCVs) shrank by 17.2% in July, but this has to be put into perspective as July 2025 was an exceptional month. For the first seven months of this year, the LCV market slowed slightly, by -6.5%.

Diving into the market for heavy trucks, we see that those under 16 tons are falling back again (-18.2% in July), resulting in a 24.4% decrease for the first seven months of 2026. The heavier trucks (16 tons and over), on the contrary, have a more stable market, with -1.1% in July and -3.7% year-to-date.

By make

BMW was strengthening its position again in July by selling 20.3% more cars than in July 2025, while the number two, Volkswagen, saw a decline in sales of 13.2%. Mercedes (third) also lost some sales (-7%), while Peugeot (now fourth) saw its sales increase by 19.3% in July. Audi fell back to sixth place because it lost 38.3% in sales in July, while VW Group colleague Skoda stole away fifth place by increasing its sales by 31.5%.

Despite a sales decline of 43% in July compared to last year, Dacia is still (just) preceding mother brand Renault because the latter also lost 28.1% in sales. Number 9 is Kia, stabilizing its sales, while Volvo arrives in 10th place thanks to a slight increase in sales of 4.3%.

BYD (11th) is the surprise of the month: it had a market share of just under two percent and is now jumping to 3.8% in July, increasing its sales by 186.3%. It has even passed Toyota (12th, -22.4% in sales), Ford (14th, -24.1%), and Hyundai (15th, -42.1%).

Other serious losers in July were Opel (16th, -23.7%), Nissan (26th,-58%), and Mazda (27th, -31%). Special mention for Tesla, which was in for a serious comeback these last months,  but now fell back to 21st place with -33.3% in sales.

We are becoming repetitive, but the biggest winners in July are (again) Chinese. Not MG, as could be expected, but it fell back to 28th position with a noticeable decrease in sales of 36.7%, nor Polestar (31st, -20%), which is still searching for a good restart. But certainly many others: we already mentioned BYD; the new second in the Chinese ranking is Leapmotor (20th, +376.1% in sales), followed by Jaecoo (23rd, +208.5%), XPeng (29th, +65.5%), Omoda (32nd, +328.1%), Zeekr (34th, +3,300%), and Smart (41st, +30.3%).

Other winners in July were Mini (17th, +22.2%), Fiat (18th, +63.2%), Cupra (22nd, +21.6%), Jeep (30th, +39.5%), DS (33rd, +123.1%), and Alpine (40th, +16.3%).

It may be more anecdotal, surely when absolute numbers are considered, but July was apparently a very good month for super-luxury (sports) cars in Belgium and Luxembourg. Maserati (42nd) sold 24 cars and saw its sales more than double (+118.2%), Ferrari sold 19 (+111.1%), Lotus also sold 19 (+171.4%), Lamborghini sold 12 (+50%), Aston Martin sold 11 (+266.7%), and Bentley sold 10 (+66.7%).

Cumulated

For the first seven months of this year, BMW stays firmly on top again, representing a 10.9% market share despite a small decline in sales (-3.1%). Volkswagen stays second but falls back to 8.6% market share (down from 9.6%) due to a 12.8% sales loss.

Mercedes is third (6.9% market share, -8.3% in sales), Peugeot climbs to fourth place (6.7% share, up from 6%) thanks to a 9.2% sales increase, while Audi falls back to fifth place (6.4% share, -10.8% in sales).

Renault is sixth (5.9% share, -6.1% in sales), while daughter Dacia (5.1% share) takes a serious dive in sales: -26.4%. Skoda is in eighth place with a 4.7% share and a 20.4% increase in sales, while Toyota falls back to ninth place with a 3.7% share (coming from 4.8%). Kia, in tenth place, remains stable.

We find Tesla in 14th place, thanks to very good first months of the year, climbing from 2.2 to 2.8% market share and winning 24.9% in sales. MG is still the highest-ranked Chinese for these first seven months (17th, 2.3% share, +145.3% in sales), but BYD is closing in (19th, 1.8% share, +114.4% in sales) and the other Chinese brands are really appearing in the charts right now: Leapmotor (25th, 0.8% share), Xpeng (31st, 0.5% share), Jaecoo (33rd, almost 0.5% share), and Omoda (35th, 0.4% market share).

Conclusions

From the changes in the Belux market in July, we can learn two things: professional cars are back in business, now representing 58% of the total car market again. It explains the surge from BMW to first place again and the relative relapse of Volkswagen. The whole Volkswagen Group is eager to launch no less than 4 new EVs in the affordable EV class, going from the Cupra Raval over the Skoda Epiq to the VW duo ID. Polo and I.D. Cross, while the long-awaited Audi A2 (the smallest Audi EV) is still in the pipeline but coming closer.

And then, there’s the Chinese. No time to panick yet for the others, but if, in a country like Belgium, they will be able to go for the fleet markets, some European competitors, and also Tesla, better watch their steps. Especially when they’re broadening their offer with plug-in hybrids, like many of them are now trying.