EU new-car market growth in July offset by wider downturn – Autovista24
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The EU new-car market rebounded in July, seemingly driven by electrified powertrains. But as the year-to-date figures fall, are cracks appearing? Autovista24 web editor James Roberts assesses the data.
A total of 914,680 new vehicles took to the EU’s roads in July, according to the latest figures from ACEA. This equalled a 7.4% year-on-year increase for the region.
Alongside April and May, July marked only the third month of growth in the EU so far this year. Therefore, year-to-date deliveries between January and July were down 0.7% when compared with the first seven months of 2024.
Of the 27 EU member states, 22 recorded new-car market growth in July. Focusing on the bloc’s major markets, Spain continued to impress. In total, 98,337 units were registered in the country, a 17.1% year-on-year upswing. Germany also recorded double-digit growth, with 264,802 registrations amounting to an 11.1% year-on-year increase.
The sluggish French new-car market saw a 7.7% decline, more severe than the 6.7% drop recorded in June. Italy saw a 5.1% fall in year-on-year registrations. However, this proved less severe than the 17.4% slump in the previous month.
More generally, the biggest growth was seen in Latvia. The country’s relatively small market enjoyed a 60.2% lift. Conversely, fellow Estonia emerged as the worst-performing market in July. It saw a 40.3% dive in registrations, with negative figures recorded across all powertrains.
Plug-in hybrids (PHEVs) saw notable success across the EU in July. 91,190 of these cars left regional dealerships, the second highest this year after June’s 94,178 total. So, PHEVs enjoyed a 56.9% year-on-year lift in July, carving out a 10% market share, a new comparative high.
Of the EU’s larger new-car markets, Spain led the PHEV path. The country posted a 178.8% year-on-year surge to 12,311 units, a key factor in the nation’s generally buoyant July. Over the first seven months of 2025, Spain’s PHEV market was up 94.5% year on year.
PHEV, as well as battery-electric (BEV) sales in Spain, have been aided by government incentive programs like MOVES III. Introduced in April 2021, the scheme has been extended several times. Most recently in April 2025. This has fuelled a significant surge in sales of electrified vehicles.
Germany, alongside Italy, also enjoyed PHEV success in July, with 83.6% and 83.2% year-on-year gains, respectively. In the PHEV marketplace, France lagged behind its fellow major EU players. The country saw 8,415 plug-in hybrids registered, an 8.2% fall from 12 months ago. Spanning the first seven months of the year, France’s PHEV registrations were down 30.5% year on year.
Other large markets saw notable PHEV growth, including Austria. It enjoyed a 97.9% year-on-year delivery boost in July, to the tune of 2,782 units. Similarly, Poland’s PHEV registrations jumped by 90.7%, and neighbouring Czechia enjoyed a 70.9% rise.
The smaller markets of Latvia and Lithuania ended July with continued positive performances. Both nations witnessed triple-digit year-on-year PHEV increases in both the month and year to date. Latvia’s PHEV sales in July resulted in the highest upswing across the EU at 435.1%, while Lithuania saw deliveries improve by 321.1%
Across the EU, 142,699 BEVs were registered in July, 40,082 more vehicles than in 2024, underlining a 39.1% year-on-year increase.
In July, BEVs held a 15.6% market share. This followed a high watermark of 16.7% recorded in June. BEVs also command a 15.6% hold on the overall new-car market across the first seven months of 2025. Significantly, this figure has remained relatively stagnant so far this year. It has not shifted more than 0.6 percentage points (pp) since January.
Germany accounted for the largest sales volume in the EU with 48,614 BEVs rolling out of dealerships. This was a 58% year-on-year increase, underpinning a 38.4% uptick in BEV adoption across the first seven months of 2025. Spain recorded a triple-digit, year-on-year increase with 8,691 BEVs hitting the country’s roads in July. This marked a 127.1% year-on-year boost.
While France claimed a positive trend in BEV sales, the bigger picture is not so rosy. A 14.8% year-on-year gain was offset by the year-to-date figures. This equated to a fall of 7,533 units and a 4.3% dip compared with 2024. This paints France as one of only five EU nations with negatively trending year-to-date BEV sales. Only Croatia, Estonia and Romania fared worse.
Poland ended July with an eye-catching result. The country’s BEV sales improved by 231.4% year on year. This result forms an upward trend of Polish BEV adoption, with 18,071 fully-electric vehicles sold between January and July. This equates to a year-on-year surge of 80.5%
BEV sales in Poland have seen a significant increase in 2025, aided by a combination of new government incentives. This has included the implementation of the NaszEauto programme.
Launched in early 2025, this government-funded scheme offers substantial subsidies for the purchase of new BEVs. It also contains additional bonuses for scrapping older internal-combustion engine (ICE) vehicles, as well as vehicle tax exemptions.
Across the EU, electric vehicle (EV) registrations, consisting of BEVs and PHEVs, increased by 45.5% to 233,889 units. The grouping also secured a market share of 25.6%, up 6.7pp year on year. Following the first seven months of 2025, the plug-in market share stands at 24.2%
The irresistible trend of hybrid sales continued to dominate the EU new-car market in July. Between January and July, 2,255,080 were sold in Europe, a year-on-year improvement of 16.7%. The powertrain continues to be a popular bridging technology between traditional combustion engines and full EV adoption.
Hybrid power, accounting for mild and full versions, has regularly accounted for over a third of the overall EU new-car market in 2025. It claimed a 34.2% market share in July. In terms of registrations, the month saw a year-on-year growth of 14.3%, with 313,221 deliveries.
France enjoyed respectable hybrid growth in July with a 9.8% year-on-year upturn in volumes. This translates into a year-to-date hybrid volume increase of 30.5%, the nation’s only positively performing powertrain.
Germany’s hybrid interest remained strong. The country claimed a 15.5% year-on-year increase, with a total of 75,172 units offloaded. Seven months into 2025, hybrid sales in Germany increased by 10.7% year on year.
Bulgaria enjoyed the most significant upswing in year-on-year hybrid sales with a 102.9% increase in July. Only four nations witnessed a negative year-on-year hybrid trend. This included Denmark, the Netherlands, Finland, and Estonia. The latter saw a 33.5% drop and once again was in the doldrums.
Combining hybrid registrations with BEV and PHEV figures saw a total of 547,110 electrified vehicles registered in July. This amounted to a 59.8% overall market share for July, an 8.7pp year-on-year swing upwards. This largely mirrored in the data spanning January to July 2025, with the grouping claiming 59% of the market, up 10.1pp.
The decline of newly registered ICE cars is nothing new. However, it does not appear to be happening fast enough to satisfy EU regulatory goals.
Across the EU new car market in July, petrol registrations declined by 12%, compared with 12 months previously, giving the fuel type a 27.2% share. Notably, this is the smallest monthly fall of the year so far. Spanning the first seven months of 2025, the figure fell by 20.1%.
The largest petrol registration drop was seen in Estonia, with a 49.1% plummet. Of the major markets, France saw the largest decline with 24,919 petrol-powered vehicles taking to the nation’s roads. This meant a year-on-year fall of 33.4%. Spain, Italy and Germany also witnessed preference for petrol peter out.
Latvia retained a notable thirst for petrol power in July. It saw registrations increase by 47.9%, with 1,427 units sold. Double-digit increases were also chalked up in Bulgaria, Croatia, Czechia, Malta, Portugal, Slovakia, and Sweden.
After seven months of 2025, only four EU states saw positive year-on-year petrol sales. This included Bulgaria, Croatia, Czechia and Latvia.
Diesel sales saw a continued decline in July, however, not as stark as in previous months. A 15.2% drop compared to 12 months ago was underpinned by the second-highest sales volume of the year at 91,032.
Across the bloc, between January and July, just three nations saw an increase in diesel uptake. This included Hungary, Lithuania and the Netherlands.
Combining petrol and diesel registrations, July saw a 12.9% year-on-year decline, and a 37.1% ICE market share. This equated to an 8.7pp slide. After seven months of the year, total ICE registrations hit 2,449,923, capping a 37.7% market share, a figure which has only declined 1.7pp since January.
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