Electrification is picking up pace in Europe as hybrids have overtaken pure petrol-powered cars in new car sales for the first time in 2025.
In the European Union (EU), 1.88 million vehicles were registered last year, up 1.8% from 2024, although still well below pre-pandemic levels, according to the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA), reported by AFP.
Hybrid sales grew 13.5% to account for 34.5% of total sales in the EU last year, ahead of petrol-powered cars at 26.6%. As for full electric vehicles, EV sales jumped by 30% to take 17.4% of new car sales. Sounds good, but ACEA says that this is from a weak 2024 and EV sales need to rise further to be on track with the EU’s transition goals.
If you take into account diesel-powered cars, the overall ICE share is marginally ahead of hybrids at 35.5%, but this is sharply down from 45.2% in 2024 as sales of both petrols and diesels dropped.
No surprises on who’s on top of the pile for Europe – the Volkswagen Group saw sales rise by 5.5% last year to increase its lead as the top-selling carmaker in the continent. Renault from France (it also owns Dacia) saw similar growth, but Stellantis – which owns brands such as Peugeot, Citroen and Fiat – saw sales fall by 4.7%.
The big news last year was that China has arrived, and national champion BYD tripled its sales in the EU, although that’s from a small base in 2024. Shanghai-based SAIC, which owns the MG brand, saw sales rise by a third. In contrast, Tesla saw sales fall by nearly 38% last year due to reputational damage in Europe – boss Elon Musk is a vocal supporter of far right parties such as Germany’s AfD.
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