Finance
Fully electric vehicle sales in EU overtake petrol for first time in December
Published by Global Banking and Finance Review
Posted on January 27, 2026
2 min readLast updated: January 27, 2026
Global Banking and Finance Review
Company
Published by Global Banking and Finance Review
Posted on January 27, 2026
2 min readLast updated: January 27, 2026
In December, electric vehicle sales in the EU surpassed petrol for the first time, with Tesla losing market share to BYD and Volkswagen.
Jan 27 (Reuters) - Fully electric car sales in December overtook petrol for the first time in the European Union, even as policymakers proposed to loosen emissions regulations, data showed on Tuesday.
U.S. battery-electric brand Tesla continued to lose market share to competitors including China's BYD and Europe's best-selling group Volkswagen, data from the European auto lobby ACEA showed.
Car sales throughout Europe sustained a sixth straight month of year-on-year growth, with overall registrations, a proxy for sales, hitting their highest volumes in five years in Europe in 2025, though they remained well below pre-pandemic levels.
WHY IT'S IMPORTANT
Europe's car industry faces challenges including competition from China, U.S. import tariffs and difficulties in profitably meeting domestic regulations for EV adoption.
The EU unveiled in December a plan to abandon an effective 2035 ban on combustion engine cars, bowing to calls from struggling carmakers. Electric transport groups argue a swift EV transition is necessary to curb CO2 emissions.
Analysts expect EVs to gain popularity despite the policy relaxation.
BY THE NUMBERS
Sales in the EU, Britain and the European Free Trade Association rose by 7.6% to 1.2 million cars in December and by 2.4% to 13.3 million overall in 2025, ACEA data showed.
Registrations at Volkswagen and Stellantis rose 10.2% and 4.5%, respectively, that month, while they fell 2.2% at Renault.
Registrations at Tesla fell 20.2%, but rose 229.7% at BYD.
Total EU car sales rose 5.8% to almost one million vehicles in December, and by 1.8% to 10.8 million in the year.
December registrations of battery electric, plug-in hybrid and hybrid electric cars were up 51%, 36.7% and 5.8%, respectively, to account collectively for 67% of the bloc's registrations, up from 57.8% in December 2024.
(Reporting by Alessandro Parodi; Editing by Jan Harvey)
An electric vehicle (EV) is a type of vehicle that is powered by electricity, typically using batteries instead of traditional fuel sources like petrol or diesel.
Emissions regulations are laws that limit the amount of pollutants that can be released into the atmosphere by vehicles and industries to protect the environment.
Market share is the percentage of an industry's sales that a particular company controls. It indicates the company's competitiveness in the market.
Year-on-year growth compares a company's performance in one period to the same period in the previous year, indicating growth or decline.
Plug-in hybrid vehicles (PHEVs) combine a conventional internal combustion engine with an electric propulsion system, allowing them to run on both petrol and electricity.
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