New car registrations: +1.4% in October 2025 year-to-date; battery-electric 16.4% market share

Despite this recent positive momentum, overall volumes remain far below pre-pandemic levels. The battery-electric car market share reached 16.4% YTD, yet it is still below the pace needed at this stage of the transition. Hybrid-electric vehicles lead as the most popular power type choice among buyers, with plug-in hybrids continuing to gain momentum.

New EU car registrations by power source

Up until October 2025, battery-electric cars accounted for 16.4% of the EU market share, an increase from the low baseline of 13.2% in October 2024 YTD. Hybrid-electric car registrations captured 34.6% of the market, remaining the preferred choice among EU consumers. Meanwhile, the combined market share of petrol and diesel cars fell to 36.6%, down from 46.3% over the same period in 2024.

Electric cars

In the first ten months of 2025, 1,473,447 new battery-electric cars were registered, capturing 16.4% of the EU market share. The largest four markets in the EU, which together account for 62% of battery-electric car registrations, saw gains: Germany (+39.4%), Belgium (+10.6%), the Netherlands (+6.6%), and France (+5.3%).

October 2025 YTD’s figures also showed new EU hybrid-electric car registrations rising to 3,109,362 units, driven by growth in the four biggest markets: Spain (+27.1%), France (+26.3%), Germany (+10.3%), and Italy (+8.9%). Hybrid-electric models account for 34.6% of the total EU market.

Registrations of plug-in-hybrid electric cars continue to grow, reaching 819,201 units during the same period. This was driven by increases in volume for key markets such as Spain (+109.6%), Italy (+76.5%), and Germany (+63.4%). As a result, plug-in-hybrid electric cars now represent 9.1% of EU car registrations, up from 7% last year.

The YOY variation in October 2025 showed a rise of 38.6% for battery-electric and 9.4% for hybrid-electric cars, while plug-in-hybrid electric recorded a 43.2% increase.

Petrol and diesel cars

By the end of October 2025, petrol car registrations declined by 18.3%, with all major markets experiencing decreases. France experienced the steepest drop, with registrations plummeting by 32.3%, followed by Germany (-22.5%), Italy (-16.9%), and Spain (-13.7%).

With 2,459,151 new cars registered so far, the market share for petrol dropped to 27.4% from 34% the same period last year. Similarly, the diesel car market declined by 24.5%, resulting in a 9.2% share for October 2025 YTD. Additionally, the October 2025 YOY variation showed a 14.3% decline for petrol and 21.9% for diesel.

By October 2025 year-to-date (YTD), new EU car registrations increased by 1.4% compared to the same period last year, marking the fourth consecutive month of growth.