European car sales grow in March as EV rise offsets combustion engine decline

Thu, 23rd Apr 2026 05:00

April 23 (Reuters) - Strong sales of ⁠electric vehicles more than offset diminishing sales of petrol and diesel cars in March, pushing up new car sales in Europe ‌as Tesla extended a comeback, official data showed on Thursday.

Overall car registrations, a ⁠proxy for sales, in the European Union, Britain ⁠and the European Free Trade Association were up 11.1% to 1,581,169 vehicles sold in the month, according to the European auto lobby ACEA.

That is the best year-on-year gain in 23 months, ‌since April 2024's 12% increase.

ELECTRIFIED VEHICLES MAKE UP NEARLY 70% OF REGISTRATIONS

Having risen by about 15% both in January and February, registrations of battery electric vehicles jumped by around 42% in March, a sign that consumers could be shunning internal combustion engines over fuel price rises due ‌to the Iran war.

The trend was noticeable in Germany, France and Italy, among others, where registrations of ‌battery electric vehicles grew by about 66%, 69% and 72%, respectively.

Sales of plug-in hybrids in the region followed closely, with a near 32% annual gain, while petrol and diesel cars continued their decline with drops of about 10% and ‌14% respectively.

That means electrified vehicles, either battery-electric, plug-in hybrid or hybrid, accounted for about 70% of all registrations.

TESLA OVERTAKES BYD

Tesla scored a striking 84.3% year-on-year ⁠increase - after resuming ⁠growth in February for the first time ‌in more than a year - and overtook Chinese competitor BYD, though the latter's sales also rose sharply.

Registrations of BYD cars grew 147.6% in March to 37,580 units, ‌shy of Tesla's 52,600.

Sales of legacy car makers Volkswagen, Stellantis and Renault grew by 4.8%, 6% and 3.4% respectively, while those of BMW climbed 15.4%.