EU passenger car registrations fell 3.9% year-on-year to 799,625 units in January 2026, reversing a 5.8% increase in December and marking the first decline since June. The bloc’s four largest markets all contracted, signaling broad-based weakness at the start of the year: Spain (-33.8%), Italy (-16.2%), Germany (-6.6%), and France (-6.6%).
By contrast, battery electric vehicle (BEV) registrations surged 24.2% from a year earlier, supported by robust gains in Germany (23.8%), France (52.1%), Denmark (52.7%), and Italy (40.7%). In total, about 154,230 new BEVs were registered, lifting their share to 19.3% of the EU market, up from 14.9% a year earlier. For 2025 as a whole, total EU car registrations increased 1.8% compared with 2024.
