Overall e-market stagnates – International e-share increases

In February 2026, new car registrations in Germany rose by 3.8 percent year-on-year to 211,262 vehicles, with the same number of working days. This is according to an analysis of figures from the Federal Motor Transport Authority (KBA) by the Association of International Motor Vehicle Manufacturers (VDIK). Since the beginning of the year, a total of 1.4 percent fewer vehicles have been newly registered than in the first two months of the previous year. That was a total of 405,243 passenger cars, including 175,955 vehicles from international brands.

46,275 purely battery-electric passenger cars (BEVs) were newly registered in February 2026, representing an increase of 28.7 percent over the same month last year. New registrations for international brands are expected to have risen again at a significantly above-average rate of 65.8 percent to 20,940 vehicles, giving them a BEV market share of 45.3 percent (+10.2 percentage points compared to the same month last year). The total BEV market share in February 2026 was 21.9 percent of all new passenger car registrations, around 4.2 percentage points higher than in the same month last year, but slightly below the market share in the previous month at -0.1 percentage points.

VDIK President Imelda Labbé: “The market share of international vehicle manufacturers in battery electric vehicles was 45.3 percent in February, 10 percentage points higher than in the same month last year. This shows that the international manufacturers’ product offensive is having an effect on affordable electric cars. This is all the more true given that the share of battery electric vehicles in the overall market is stagnating, despite the German government’s retroactive subsidy as of January 1.”

Since the beginning of the year, a total of 88,967 new BEVs have been registered, representing growth of 26.3 percent over the same period last year. International brands accounted for around 45.1 percent of this figure. The BEV market share for the first two months of 2026 is 22.0 percent, which is still below the 25 percent required to meet CO2 emission targets.

Plug-in hybrids (PHEVs) also recorded growth in February compared to the same month last year. New PHEV registrations rose by 24.5 percent to 24,328 vehicles last month. This corresponds to a market share of 11.5 percent, which is around 1.9 percentage points above the previous year’s figure. In the PHEV market, international brands are expected to have put 8,326 new vehicles on the road in February, a slight increase of 0.2 percent over the same month last year. Their market share was thus 34.2 percent of the total PHEV market. A total of 46,118 new PHEV passenger cars have been registered since the beginning of the year (+23.8 percent), giving them a market share of 11.4 percent of all new passenger car registrations. International brands have had a market share of 34.4 percent of the total PHEV market since the beginning of the year.

In total, electric vehicles – i.e., BEVs and PHEVs combined – accounted for 70,603 new passenger car registrations in February, 27.3 percent more than in the same month last year. Their market share was 33.4 percent (February 2025: 27.3 percent). Since the beginning of the year, 135,085 electric vehicles have been newly registered, giving them a market share of 33.3 percent.

The number of new commercial vehicle registrations in February was 24,508, down 1.0 percent from February last year. Since January 2026, 47,957 new commercial vehicles have been registered (-9.1 percent).