EUNew car registrations across the EU rose 5.7% in the first half of 2026, and for the first time battery-electric vehicles took more than a fifth of the market. According to ACEA, the European automobile manufacturers’ association, BEVs reached 20.7% of new registrations, up from 15.6% in the same period last year. Buyers registered 1,220,890 new battery-electric cars in the EU over the six months.
Combustion is losing ground on both fronts. Petrol fell to 22.2% of the market, from 28.4% a year earlier, and diesel slipped to 7.5%. Combined, petrol and diesel registrations dropped below 30% for the first time, to 29.7%.
France led BEV growth among the bloc’s largest markets, up 62.9% year on year, ahead of Germany (+48%) and Denmark (+41.2%).
Hybrids without a plug remain the single largest powertrain category in the EU, at 37.3% of registrations, ahead of BEVs. Plug-in hybrids grew to 9.9% of the market. Taken together, battery-electric, plug-in hybrid and conventional hybrid cars now account for 67.9% of every new car sold in the EU, against 29.7% for petrol and diesel combined.
Share of new EU car registrations by powertrain, H1 2026.
The shift has been gradual rather than sudden. Combustion still outsold every electrified category individually a year ago; the milestone in H1 2026 is that its combined share, petrol and diesel together, has now been overtaken by hybrids alone, with BEVs closing fast behind.
Source: ACEA new car registration data
