EU new car registrations rose 5.7% in the first half of 2026, with battery-electric cars at 20.7% of the market

The European Automobile Manufacturers' Association (ACEA) published its first-half registration figures on 23 July 2026. According to the release, new EU car registrations rose by 5.7% year-to-date, which ACEA attributed in part to a strong June, against what the association described as persistent geopolitical headwinds weighing on the outlook. The figures cover the EU market as ACEA defines it and are registrations, not sales or production: they count new passenger cars registered in the European Union in the first six months of 2026.

The headline shift is in the powertrain mix. ACEA reports that battery-electric cars held a 20.7% share of the EU market up to June 2026, up from 15.6% a year earlier, while hybrid-electric cars captured 37.3% and remained the most popular powertrain choice among EU buyers. Plug-in hybrids took 9.8% of the market, up from 8.5% in the same period of 2025. The combined share of petrol and diesel cars fell to 29.7% from 37.8% a year earlier.

Battery-electric: where the growth came from

In absolute terms, ACEA counted 1,220,890 new battery-electric cars registered in the EU in the first half of 2026. The association reports that three of the four largest EU markets, which together accounted for 63% of all battery-electric car registrations, posted strong growth: France (+62.9%), Germany (+48%) and Denmark (+41.2%), with Belgium adding a more moderate +8.2%. These are year-on-year changes in registrations in each named market, as reported by ACEA for the period.

Hybrids lead, plug-in hybrids climb

Hybrid-electric cars remain the largest single powertrain category by share. ACEA put new EU hybrid-electric registrations at 2,198,148 units in H1 2026, or 37.3% of the total EU market, with growth in Italy (+23%), Spain (+20.8%), Germany (+6.9%) and France (+3.2%). Plug-in hybrids reached 577,735 units, growth ACEA links to rising volumes in Italy (+84.3%), Spain (+39%) and Germany (+17.9%).

Petrol and diesel keep shrinking

Both combustion categories declined in the period. ACEA reports that EU petrol car registrations fell by 17.2%, with decreases across all major markets named in the release: France down 34.2%, Spain down 18.5%, Germany down 18.2% and Italy down 17.1%. With 1,309,153 new petrol cars registered in the first six months of 2026, petrol's market share fell to 22.2% from 28.4% in H1 2025. Diesel continued its downward trend, with registrations down 16.5% and a share of 7.5%, from 9.4% a year earlier.

What drives the numbers, and what they do not say

• Registrations, not retail sales: the series counts new passenger cars registered in the EU, which can differ from consumer deliveries in a given month.
• EU market only: the figures cover the European Union as ACEA defines it; markets outside the EU are not in these numbers.
• Demand context: ACEA states the market benefited from robust consumer demand for a range of electrified technologies, driven primarily by market support measures.
• Point-in-time data: these are H1 2026 figures as published on 23 July 2026; subsequent monthly releases will update the year-to-date series.
• No verdict here: this is a report of published figures; it holds no driving impression, no measurement of ours and no reliability verdict.

To check these figures yourself, read ACEA's press release dated 23 July 2026 on acea.auto, where the association publishes the full dataset alongside downloadable tables for the June 2026 release. Compare the shares and unit counts against the release's own year-earlier comparisons, and note that ACEA updates the series monthly, so later releases will show revised year-to-date figures for 2026.