European car buyers are purchasing more electric vehicles, a manufacturing association says.
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Interest among European Union buyers in battery-electric vehicles (BEVs) in August offset a decline in gas- and diesel-powered car sales, according to data from the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA).
According to the association, new-car registrations grew 5.3% to 832,637 vehicles. BEVs, plug-in hybrids (PHEVs) and traditional hybrid cars sales increased, with fully electric car registration increasing 52.2%. Overall, the three powertrains represented more than 73% of all vehicle sales in August. Diesel and gasoline sales both fell more than 23%.
So far for the year, a fifth (21.7%) of new-car registrations were battery-electrics, a six percentage-point increase compared with the same period in 2025.
Broken down by brand, Renault and Volkswagen registrations declined 4.4% and 3.6% respectively. Stellantis saw registrations increase 3.5%. Chinese car companies BYD, Chery and Leapmotor saw sales jump, selling between two and three times as many vehicles as the previous year. China’s Geely and SAIC increased 25% and 32%. The overall Chinese vehicle share of the EU market reached 11.3%, up from 7.1% a year ago.