Electromobility continues to gain momentum in the European automotive market. According to the ACEA manufacturers association, 290,117 new battery-electric passenger cars were registered in the EU in September. This represents an increase of 72.9 percent compared to the same month last year. Among all types of propulsion, 971,048 new passenger cars were registered in September, 9.3 percent more than in September 2025. Thus, the proportion of pure electric cars reached 29.9 percent in September, which means that almost three out of every ten newly registered passenger cars had a fully electric drive system.
Electromobility has also seen significant growth so far this year. From January to September, 1,931,465 new electric cars were registered in the EU, an increase of 48.5 percent compared to the same period last year. The market share of BEVs increased from 16.1 percent the previous year to 22.7 percent. This makes battery electric cars the second most powerful type of powertrain on the EU new car market, after mild hybrids and plug-in full hybrids (36.3 percent market share).
Germany and France drive growth
Growth was particularly strong in major European markets. In Germany, 88,599 new BEVs were registered in September, 94.7 percent more than in the same month last year, bringing the market share to 34.5 percent, as we already reported through the eMobility Dashboard (DE) of electrive.net. France registered 65,243 electric cars, an increase of 107.5 percent. Denmark also saw a significant increase, with 17,784 new registrations, an increase of 36.9 percent.
Since the beginning of the year, Germany leads the three mentioned markets with 604,144 newly registered electric vehicles, an increase of 58.1 percent compared to the first nine months of last year. They are followed by France with 387,342 BEVs (+79.1 percent) and Denmark with 124,049 (+40.3 percent). Together with Belgium, where registrations increased by 15.7 percent to 125,220 vehicles, these four markets accounted for around 64 percent of all BEV registrations in the EU.
Hybrids remain the dominant propulsion system
Despite strong growth in BEVs, hybrid vehicles continue to represent the dominant powertrain category. From January to September, 3,090,530 passenger cars with hybrid or hybrid powertrains were registered, representing a market share of 36.3 percent. Plug-in hybrids reached 860,257 vehicles and a share of 10.1 percent, with an increase in registrations of 18.6 percent compared to the same period last year.
Among plug-in hybrids, growth was particularly strong in Italy: 121,647 vehicles were registered from January to September, an increase of 72.4 percent over the previous year. In Spain, registrations increased by 34.7 percent, while in Germany they increased by 13.7 percent to 247,489 vehicles.
Conventional propulsion systems, on the other hand, continue to lose ground. The number of newly registered gasoline vehicles fell 19.1 percent in the first nine months, to 1,802,078 vehicles, and their market share fell from 27.7 to 21.2 percent. In the case of diesel cars, registrations decreased by 19.5 percent, to 602,206 vehicles, and their share fell from 9.3 to 7.1 percent.
Growth in non-EU states
Notably, BEV registrations also increased significantly in other European markets outside the EU. In the EFTA states of Iceland, Norway and Switzerland, 27,115 fully electric cars were registered in September, an increase of 36.3 percent on the same month last year. In the United Kingdom, 99,201 vehicles were registered, also an increase of 36.3 percent. From January to September, BEV registrations in the EFTA states increased by 10.9 percent to 163,398 vehicles, while in the United Kingdom they increased by 30.2 percent to 454,947.
For the entire region comprising the EU, EFTA and the UK, ACEA reports 416,433 new BEVs in September, an increase of 59.9 percent. Since the beginning of the year, sales in this region have totaled 2.55 million electric cars, 41.9 percent more than in the same period last year.
BYD, Chery and Leapmotor experience strong growth
The figures by manufacturer are also interesting, although ACEA does not differentiate here by types of propellants. However, as seen in August, there is once again strong momentum among Chinese manufacturers, who have continued to expand their sales in Europe. In the EU, BYD increased its new registrations in September by 111.4 percent year-on-year to 28,309 vehicles. From January to September, growth amounted to 154.4 percent, with 206,002 registrations. Chery, including Jaecoo, Jetour and Omoda, registered 20,707 vehicles in September (+223.8 percent) and 137,003 since the beginning of the year (+246.5 percent). SAIC, MG’s parent company, increased its registrations 24.8 percent to 22,978 in September; So far this year, it has registered 186,650 vehicles (+20.4%). Leapmotor showed particularly dynamic growth, with 10,229 new registrations in September (+255.7 percent) and a total of 72,760 vehicles since the beginning of the year (+393.6 percent).
A similar picture emerges in the expanded EU, EFTA and UK market: in September, BYD increased its registrations by 98.7 percent to 49,953 vehicles, Chery by 185.5 percent to 52,801 and SAIC by 23.7 percent to 41,987. Leapmotor achieved 14,594 new registrations, an increase of 323.9 percent. Since the beginning of the year, BYD registered 283,997 vehicles (+134.6 percent), Chery 260,650 (+255.9 percent), SAIC 272,251 (+20.3 percent) and Leapmotor 87,922 (+424.2 percent), all significantly above last year’s levels.
acea.auto (PDF file)
