Of the 10 largest European markets, Italy registered the biggest increase in total new car registrations (+6%) and Belgium the largest decrease (−18%) in January 2026, compared with January 2025 (see Table A5 in the Appendix).
Looking at new BEV registrations, Germany and France had BEV market shares of 22% and 28%, respectively, in January. This represents increases of 5 and 11 percentage points compared with the same month in 2025.
Italy and Spain, the third and fourth largest markets, each had increases of 2 percentage points, reaching BEV shares of 7% and 9%, respectively, in January.
Nordic countries and Belgium led Europe’s battery electric car registration shares. While Norway and Denmark already surpassed the 50% mark at 94% and 82%, respectively, Finland (46%), Sweden (42%), Belgium (36%), Luxembourg (29%), France (28%), Portugal (26%), and the Netherlands (25%) all had BEV shares of 25% or greater in January. Also with BEV market shares above of the European average were Germany (22%), Austria (20%), and Ireland (20%) (see Figure 3). In January 2026, Denmark had the greatest increase compared with the same month in the previous year (+18 percentage points).
Looking at other drivetrains in the largest European markets, PHEVs shares were the highest in the Netherlands (28%) and Sweden (22%) in January. Poland (26%) and France (23%) had the highest HEV shares, while MHEV shares were the highest in Italy, at 38%, followed by Germany, Poland, and Spain, which each had shares of 26%.