New EU car registrations rose 1.8% year over year in 2025 to 10.82 million units, with hybrid-electric vehicles increasing by 13.7% to 3.74 million unit, giving them a 34.5% market share, data from the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA) showed Jan. 27.
Despite the rise in total new registrations, they remained well below pre-pandemic levels.
Battery-electric cars accounted for 17.4% of the EU market, as they demonstrated a strong, 29.9% year-over-year rise to 1.58 million units, while plug-in hybrid units showed an even sharper increase of 33.4% to 1.05 million units, with a market share of 9.4%.
In contrast, the combined market share of petrol and diesel vehicles fell to 35.5% in 2025, from 45.2% in 2024. Petrol vehicles dropped to a 26.6% share of the market at 2.88 million units, from 33.3% a year earlier, while diesel registrations fell 24.2% to 960,024 units, an 8.9% share.
December 2025 saw a 51% surge in battery-electric cars and a 36.7% rise for plug-in hybrid units, while hybrid-electric recorded a 5.8% increase.
The shift reflects changing consumer preferences that could significantly affect European refined product demand, particularly gasoline and diesel consumption, as well as the need for battery metals on top of carbon steel, the main materials of vehicle production, with approximately 900 to 1,400 kilograms of steel used for an average passenger car.
Platts, part of S&P Global Energy, assessed Jan. 26 domestic hot-rolled coil in Northern Europe at Eur640/mt ($766/mt) ex-works Ruhr and in Southern Europe at Eur630/mt ex-works Italy, both steady from the previous session.
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