Hybrid vehicles remain market favorites

In February, new passenger car registrations in the EU fell by three percent compared to the same period in 2024. The most important markets in particular recorded declines, including Italy (-6%), Germany (-4.6%) and France (-3.3%). Only Spain recorded an increase (+8.4%).

In the first two months of the year, battery electric vehicles (BEVs) accounted for 15.2% of the total EU market share of new registrations, an increase from the low baseline of 11.5% in the same period in 2024. Hybrid vehicles made strong gains, capturing 35.2% of the market and remain the preferred choice of consumers in the EU. In contrast, the combined market share of petrol and diesel vehicles fell to 38.8%, compared to 48.5% in the same period last year.

In the first two months of the year, sales of new BEVs increased by 28.4 percent to 255,489 units, representing a 15.2 percent share of the total EU market. Three of the four largest markets in the EU, which account for 64% of all battery electric car registrations, recorded strong double-digit growth: Germany (+41%), Belgium (+38%) and the Netherlands (+25%). In contrast, France recorded a slight decline of 1.3%.

In February, new hybrid car registrations in the EU rose by 18.7%, driven by significant growth in the four largest markets: France (+51.4%), Spain (+31.5%), Italy (+10.4%) and Germany (+9.8%). As a result, a total of 594,059 vehicles were registered in the first two months of the year, which corresponds to a 35.2% share of the EU market.

Last month, there was a significant drop of 20.5% in registrations of petrol cars, with the trend affecting all major markets. France recorded the sharpest decline with a drop of 27.5%, followed by Germany (-24.9%), Italy (-19%) and Spain (-13%).

With 489,838 new registrations, the market share of petrol cars fell to 29.1%, compared to 35.5% in the same period of the previous year. The market for diesel vehicles also fell by 28%, resulting in a market share of 9.7% in February. Overall, double-digit declines were observed in most EU markets. (aum)