New car registrations: -1.9% in H1 2025; battery-electric 15.6% market share

With a strong 7.3% year-on-year (YOY) decline for June, also indicative of the challenging global economic environment for auto makers. The battery-electric car market share for H1 2025 stood at 15.6%, still far from where it needs to be at this point in the transition. Hybrid-electric models continue to grow in popularity, retaining their place as the most popular power type amongst buyers.

New EU car registrations by power source

Up until June 2025, battery-electric cars accounted for 15.6% of the EU market share, an increase from the low baseline of 12.5% in H1 2024. Hybrid-electric car registrations continue to surge, capturing 34.8% of the market, remaining the preferred choice among EU consumers. Meanwhile, the combined market share of petrol and diesel cars fell to 37.8%, down from 48.2% over the same period in 2024.

Electric cars

In the first half of 2025, new battery-electric car sales reached 869,271 units, capturing 15.6% of the EU market share. Three of the four largest markets in the EU, accounting for over 60% of battery-electric car registrations saw gains: Germany (+35.1%), Belgium (+19.5%), and the Netherlands (+6.1%). This contrasted with France, which saw a decline of 6.4%.

H1 2025’s figures also showed new EU registrations of hybrid-electric cars rose to 1,942,762 units, driven by growth in the four biggest markets: France (+34.1%), Spain (+32.8%), Italy (+10%), and Germany (+9.9%). Hybrid-electric models now account for 34.8% of the total EU market share.

Registrations of plug-in-hybrid electric cars in H1 2025 reached 469,410 units. This was driven by increases in volume for key markets such as Germany (+55.1%) and Spain (+82.5%), but also Italy (+56.3%). As a result, plug-in-hybrid electric cars now represent 8.4% of total car registrations in the EU, up from 6.9% in June 2024 YTD.

Moreover, the YOY variation in June 2025 showed a rise of only 7.8% for battery-electric and 6.1% for hybrid-electric cars, while plug-in-hybrid electric recorded its fourth consecutive month of strong growth with a 41.6% increase.

Petrol and diesel cars

By the end of June 2025, petrol car registrations had declined by 21.2%, with all major markets experiencing decreases. France experienced the steepest drop, with registrations plummeting by 33.7%, followed by Germany (-27.8%), Italy (-17.2%), and Spain (-13.4%).

With 1,585,357 new cars registered so far, the market share for petrol dropped to 28.4%, down from 35.4%. Similarly, the diesel car market declined by 28.1%, resulting in a 9.4% share for diesel vehicles in June 2025 YTD. Additionally, the June 2025 YOY variation showed a decline of 25.4% for petrol and 34.1% for diesel.

In the first half of 2025 (H1 2025), new EU car registrations dropped by 1.9% compared to the same period last year.