During January and February 2026, new car registrations in the European Union recorded a decrease of 1.2% compared to the same period last year. Despite the overall decrease in sales volume, a significant change in the structure of propellant fuels is noticeable. Battery electric vehicles now account for 18.8% of the market share, up from last year’s 15.2%, while hybrid models remain the first choice of buyers with a 38.7% share.
On the other hand, traditional internal combustion engines continue to lose consumer confidence. The combined market share of gasoline and diesel cars fell to 30.6%, while in the same period in 2025 it was 38.7%. These data suggest an accelerated transformation towards decarbonisation, concludes the association of European car manufacturers ACEA.
Growth in sales of electrified vehicles
A total of 312,369 new vehicles were registered in the fully electric car segment. Results in key markets are mixed; France and Germany recorded strong growth of 38.5% and 26.3%, respectively. In contrast, the markets of Belgium and the Netherlands recorded double-digit declines of 11% and 34.9%. Hybrid vehicles strengthened their position with more than 643 thousand registrations, supported by growth in demand in Italy and Spain.
Plug-in hybrids recorded a particularly strong takeoff with growth to 162,751 units, which now represents 9.8% of the total market. This segment is led by Italy with doubled sales, while Spain and Germany also recorded double-digit growth. Such trends confirm that hybrid technology clearly serves as a key transitional step towards full electrification for European drivers.
Fall of “fossils”
The petrol engine segment is facing serious difficulties, with registrations down 23.3% across the EU. The biggest drop was recorded in the French market, where the number of new petrol stations was almost halved. Similar negative trends are also present in Germany, Spain and Italy, which resulted in a decrease in the market share of gasoline cars to 22.5% compared to last year’s 29%. The situation is no better in the segment of diesel vehicles, whose sales fell by 17.7%. Diesels now account for just 8.1% of new registrations in the first two months of 2026.
The data for Croatia reveal that our market is still somewhat more conservative, so hybrids hold a 37.2% share in new registrations, followed by gasoline engines with 36.3%. Diesels accounted for 14.2% of new registrations, 7% were newly registered plug-in hybrids, and battery-electric vehicles accounted for only 3.8% in the first two months of this year.
