- Gasoline car registrations fell by 18.7% by the end of 2025
- Electric cars outsold petrol cars in December last year
- BYD had a particularly strong year in Europe
The latest sales figures from the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association have revealed that battery electric vehicles outsold petrol cars in Europe for the first time last December, marking a milestone for the technology.
Overall, gasoline vehicles still ruled if you include data from January to December 2025, where 26.6% played 17.4% of BEV sales. But hybrid cars, which combine a small petrol engine with batteries and electric motors, were the overall favorite, accounting for 34.5% of total European sales in 2025.
Perhaps the most telling figure is that petrol car registrations fell by 18.7% at the end of last year, with all major markets experiencing declines. Diesel fared even worse, with registrations down 24.2%, resulting in a modest 8.9% share by 2025.
This trend appears to support recent news that some petrol stations in Europe and the UK could stop selling diesel as early as 2030 as new vehicle registrations fall through the floor.
Despite the EU relaxing its ban on the sale of pure petrol cars and moving the date back from 2030 to 2035, the move towards increasing amounts of electrification is very much in motion, with Europeans buying over 300,000 electric cars last month alone.
There are a number of good reasons for this. The first and most obvious is that Europeans have among the widest range of pure electric vehicles outside of markets like China and Asia, where even the ‘legacy’ automakers now all offer everything from compact electric city cars to large 7-seat SUVs.
Peugeot, for example, sells a pure electric version of all cars and light commercial vehicles across its range, giving customers the simple choice of pure electric or hybrid in many models.
Second, alongside the rapid increase in model choice in Europe, the price of electric cars has also been drastically reduced, with smaller and more affordable electric cars now on the market.
Models like the best-selling Renault 5 E-Tech, for example, start at just under £23,000 in the UK, which equates to around $32,000 / AU$45,500.
Similarly, Chinese brands such as BYD, Omoda, Jaecoo and Leapmotor have all arrived on European shores and are offering exceptionally good deals on new electric cars.
BYD experienced e.g. its sales to increase by an astronomical 228% in 2025, rising from 39,000 to 129,000 cars sold during the year.
Hybrids do the heavy lifting
With most of the major car manufacturers moving to an increasingly electrified range, buyers simply don’t have much choice in Europe when it comes to pure petrol or diesel cars. In fact, the latter have all been removed from most model ranges.
Instead, hybrid vehicles have been seen as the way to bridge the gap between fossil fuels and clean electrification, offering increased range compared to BEVs and the ability to quickly fill a tank of gas from a traditional gas station if required.
The European sales figures for hybrid cars speak for themselves, but pure electric cars are quickly gaining ground. What’s more, many manufacturers are turning to range-extended hybrids, which see the engine act only as a generator to charge batteries rather than drive the wheels.
This helps reduce fuel consumption and emissions, while offering a range of over 1,000 miles non-stop in the case of Xpeng’s formidable G7 SUV and P7+ Sedan, both of which will soon be available in Europe.
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