Passenger car market in July: International BEV market share grows

In July 2025, new passenger car registrations in Germany rose by 11.1 percent to 264,802 vehicles. The same month last year was significantly weakened by a special effect: Due to the implementation of new EU type approval regulations on July 7, 2024, new registrations had been brought forward to June 2024, which were missing from the market in July. On average for the months of June and July 2025, the passenger car market was down 2.7 percent overall compared to the same period last year. This is according to an analysis of figures from the Federal Motor Transport Authority (KBA) by the Association of International Motor Vehicle Manufacturers (VDIK). New passenger car registrations of international brands accounted for around 41.3 percent of the total market in July 2025.
Since the beginning of the year, a total of 2.5 percent fewer vehicles have been registered than in the same period last year. That was a total of 1,667,591 passenger cars, including 710,830 vehicles from international brands. The share of international brands was thus 42.6 percent.

48,614 purely battery-powered electric cars (BEVs) were newly registered in July 2025, representing an increase of 58.0 percent compared to the same month last year. New registrations for international brands are expected to have risen by 54.5 percent to 19,179 vehicles. The BEV market share in July 2025 was 18.4 percent of all new passenger car registrations, around 5.5 percentage points higher than in the same month last year and thus the third-highest figure in a year and a half. Since the beginning of the year, a total of 297,340 BEVs have been newly registered, representing growth of 38.4 percent over the same period last year. International brands accounted for around 39.4 percent of this figure, with their market share in the BEV segment expected to have risen by 2.2 percentage points compared to the same period last year. The BEV market share for the first seven months of 2025 is 17.8 percent, which is still not at the level required to meet CO2 emission targets.

“We are seeing an increase in new registrations of battery-electric vehicles from international manufacturers. We attribute this increase to the significantly larger range of vehicles available in the entry-level segments. In recent months, a number of brands have introduced new models that are technically mature and, above all, affordable for a broad range of customers and users. However, affordable vehicles are only one side of the coin. In order to achieve a sustainable ramp-up of electric mobility, we need a joint plan from all stakeholders for favorable framework conditions, which also includes charging infrastructure and electricity prices,” said VDIK President Imelda Labbé.

Plug-in hybrids (PHEVs) also recorded strong growth in July 2025 compared to the same month last year. New PHEV registrations rose by 83.6 percent to 27,197 vehicles last month. This corresponds to a market share of 10.3 percent, which is around 4.1 percentage points above the previous year’s figure and the third-highest value since the end of the PHEV purchase subsidy. In the PHEV market, international brands are expected to have put 9,712 new vehicles on the road in July, an increase of 93.8 percent over the same month last year. Their market share was thus 35.7 percent of the total PHEV market. A total of 166,102 new PHEV passenger cars have been registered since the beginning of the year (+59.2 percent), giving them a market share of 10.0 percent of all new passenger car registrations.

In total, electric vehicles – i.e. BEVs and PHEVs combined – accounted for 75,811 new passenger car registrations in July, 66.4 percent more than in the same month last year. Their market share was 28.6 percent (July 2024: 19.1 percent). Since the beginning of the year, 463,442 electric vehicles have been newly registered, giving them a market share of 27.8 percent.

The number of new commercial vehicle registrations in July was 31,870, 9.4 percent higher than in July of the previous year, which was weak due to special effects. Since January 2025, 201,719 new commercial vehicles have been registered (-14.4 percent).