Sales of electric cars have jumped 48.5% in Europe since the start of the year, Chinese manufacturers are taking advantage

Registrations of new cars in the European Union jumped 9.3% year-on-year in September, still driven by hybrids and electrics, according to data published Thursday by the Association of European Automobile Manufacturers (ACEA).

Last month, 971,048 new cars were sold in the EU, bringing total sales in the first nine months of the year to more than 8.5 million. With an increase of 5.7% compared to the first nine months of 2025, the European automobile market demonstrates “remarkable resilience” despite the continued rise in fuel prices and the persistence of geopolitical tensions, estimates ACEA.

Non-rechargeable hybrid engines (where the electric motor only serves to assist the thermal engine) remain the most popular among Europeans. They represented 36.3% of new car sales over the period from January to September, or nearly 3.1 million vehicles.

Followed by 100% electric vehicles, which accounted for 22.7% of new registrations during the first nine months of the year, for a total of 1.9 million vehicles. Even if their market share remains lower than that of non-rechargeable hybrids, electric ones are growing much more quickly: their sales jumped by 48.5% over the January-September period compared to the first nine months of 2025, while non-rechargeable hybrids saw their sales grow by 10.7% over the same time.

Between the beginning of January and the end of September, three of the four main national markets within the EU, which alone account for almost two thirds (64%) of registrations of 100% electric cars, saw this engine experience a clear increase: France (+79.1%), Germany (+58.1%) and Denmark (+40.3%). For their part, plug-in hybrids account for 10.1% of the new European automobile market, with more than 860,000 models sold during the first nine months of the year.

For these cars, equipped with a thermal engine, an electric motor and a small battery, sales increased by 18.6% compared to the first nine months of 2025. The share of sales of new cars with thermal engines continues to erode. Gasoline engines now represent only 21.2% of sales (compared to 27.7% at the end of September 2025) and diesel engines only 7.1% (compared to 9.3%).

Volkswagen Group, which dominates the European market, sold 231,474 cars in September (-4.1% year-on-year). With more than 2.2 million registrations over the first nine months of the year (+0.7%), the German group's market share stood at 26.2% (compared to 27.5% a year earlier).

For Stellantis, number two, sales of new cars reached 139,582 units in September (+4.7% year-on-year) and 1.3 million over the January-September period (+5.1%), driven in particular by the Citroën and Fiat brands. The American-French-Italian group maintained its market share at 15.8% over the January-September period.

With 102,364 sales in September (+1.8% over one year) and 882,788 sales over nine months (-3.5%), Renault Group saw its market share over nine months fall by one point, to 10.4% (compared to 11.4% at the end of September 2025).

A sign of the acceleration of the offensive of Chinese car manufacturers in Europe, several of them posted enormous increases over one year for the January-September period, such as BYD (+154% with around 206,000 vehicles) and Chery (+246.5% to around 137,000 units), for example.