The first quarter of 2025 has seen a decline by -1.9% compared to Q1 of 2024. March’s figures have highlighted a slight -0.2% year-on-year decline according to the ACEA’s latest figures. Up until March 2025, battery-electric vehicles (BEVs) accounted for 15.2% of total EU market share, signifying an increase from 12% in Q1 2024. As such, new battery-electric car sales grew by 23.9%, to 412,997 units. This is far from where it was expected to be, however, hybrid-electric models have continued their growth in popularity amongst buyers. Hybrid-electric vehicles surged, capturing 35.5% of the market. Meanwhile, the combined market share of petrol and diesel cars fell to 38.3%, down from 48.3% over the same period in 2024. Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands recorded significant gains with 38.9%, 29.9% and 7.9% respectively. This contrasted with France, which saw a -6.6% decline. Meanwhile, registrations of hybrid-electric cars increased by 20.7% with France (47.5%), Spain (36.6%), Italy (15.3%), and Germany (10.5%). This led to 964,108 units registered in the first quarter of 2025, representing 35.5% of the EU market share. Registrations of plug-in-hybrid electric cars grew by 1.1% with a total of 207,048 units. Markets in Germany and Spain particularly drove this growth. As a result, plug-in-hybrid electric cars represent 7.6% of total car registrations in the EU, up from 7.4% in Q1 2024. Petrol car registrations saw a significant decline of 20.6%, with all major markets showing decreases.