In the first half of 2025, the EU new car market is undergoing a critical phase of transition from traditional power to electrification.

The overall registration volume decreased by 1.9% year-on-year, with a single month decline of 7.3% in June, due to the dual effects of macroeconomic uncertainty and consumer wait-and-see sentiment.

Hybrid models continue to lead, occupying nearly 35% of the market share, while pure electric vehicle market share has increased but is still in the low base expansion stage, only 15.6%. Plug in hybrid power has become a structural highlight, with a rapid increase in registration volume. In contrast, traditional fuel vehicles have accelerated their decline, with a significant drop.

Part 1

Evolution of Electric Power Systems:

Hybrid and plug-in hybrid dominate the transition stage,

Pure electricity has not yet broken through

In the first half of 2025, the EU new energy vehicle market will continue to move towards electrification, but there will be differentiation in the development pace of different power systems.

◎ Hybrid eletric vehicles (HEVs) hold a dominant position in the market with a 34.8% share, demonstrating advantages in technological maturity, adaptability, and consumer acceptance.

HEV systems typically use electric motors to assist engine drive, enabling automatic switching or coordinated driving under operating conditions without the need for external charging. They are compatible with existing infrastructure and particularly suitable for urban commuting and suburban driving scenarios.

From the perspective of major markets, HEV sales have significantly increased in France, Spain, Italy, and Germany, with France in particular growing by over 34%. This growth not only stems from tax incentives and policy guidance, but also from the rational choices of European consumers under high oil prices and environmental regulations.

On the technological path, HEV products have gradually upgraded from a single motor architecture to a dual motor system, with smoother power response and further improved energy recovery efficiency.

◎ In contrast, although the battery electric vehicle (BEV) market achieved year-on-year growth, its overall share was only 15.6%.

From the registration data, the German market contributed the most, with a year-on-year growth of 35.1%, while France experienced a year-on-year decline of 6.4%, revealing that market growth is highly dependent on policy environment and local manufacturer strategies.

The growth of BEV still relies on the richness of the product line on sale, car purchase subsidies, charging network coverage, and the gradual establishment of user usage habits.

At present, most mainstream BEV models adopt a 400V electrical architecture, coupled with a 6585kWh battery pack, with a range of generally between 450550 kilometers. However, with prices still higher than traditional fuel vehicles, popularization still faces challenges.

BEV still maintains a growth trend in small and medium-sized countries such as the Netherlands and Belgium, but its foundation is a smaller absolute quantity and a more mature urban charging system. At this stage, the BEV market is still in a low base expansion period, and its growth logic depends on the joint evolution of multiple factors such as battery technology, vehicle cost compression capability, and fast charging speed improvement.

◎ Plug in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) have shown significant structural growth, with registration reaching 469000 units and market share increasing from 6.9% to 8.4%. Germany, Spain, and Italy grew by 55.1%, 82.5%, and 56.3% respectively, forming the main sources of growth.

PHEVs typically have a large capacity battery (1020kWh) in their power configuration, with a pure electric range of up to 5080 kilometers, supporting zero fuel consumption for daily urban commuting, while retaining the engine to cover remote driving.

Technologically, some high-end PHEV models already have high-voltage fast charging capabilities, which can complete 80% of the power replenishment within 30 minutes, providing a user experience similar to that of a pure electric vehicle. At the same time, through energy management strategy optimization, PHEVs have excellent comprehensive fuel consumption performance under NEDC or WLTP testing standards, and have strong economic attractiveness in the current context of high oil prices.

PHEVs are also facing regulatory scrutiny. In the future, the EU will conduct stricter checks on its actual carbon emissions and electric drive usage rates to prevent the "low-carbon name" from masking the reality of high emissions. Its sustainable growth relies on technological transparency, scenario matching, and policy guidance coordination.

In summary, in the first half of 2025, hybrid and plug-in hybrid technologies will continue to play a "buffering" role in the market structure, and the true pure electric transformation still requires continuous optimization of time and cost. In terms of the current electrification path in the European Union, HEV and PHEV are still the realistic and affordable transitional choices for most consumers.

Part 2

Traditional power is declining,

The differentiation of manufacturers is intensifying:

Brand strategy shifts towards product structure adjustment

In the first half of 2025, the share of traditional fuel vehicles has dropped to 37.8%, showing a significant shrinkage compared to the 48.2% share in the same period of 2024. Gasoline cars decreased by 21.2%, diesel cars decreased by 28.1%, with French gasoline cars experiencing a 33.7% decline and diesel cars plummeting by 40%.

This trend clearly indicates that although fuel powered models are still the sales foundation of many brands, they are rapidly losing their core market position.

◎Currently, gasoline cars are mostly concentrated in the compact and small car market, but with the tightening of environmental standards and rising usage costs, their attractiveness in first tier cities is gradually decreasing.

◎Diesel vehicles are more affected, on the one hand due to the increased cost of complying with emission regulations, and on the other hand, consumers' concerns about residual value and traffic restrictions have increased.

In the year-on-year data for June 2025, the registration of gasoline and diesel vehicles decreased by 25.4% and 34.1% respectively.

At the manufacturer level, there are significant differences in response strategies between groups.

◎ The market share of Volkswagen Group has reached 27.3%, making it the only large traditional car company to achieve dual growth in share and sales. The Cupra brand saw a growth rate of 35.2%, demonstrating its success in combining youthfulness and electrification strategies, while Seat and Porsche experienced declines of 21.5% and 19.2% respectively, reflecting differences in consumer sentiment in different segmented markets.

◎ Stellantis Group's share decreased to 16.3%, a decrease of 11.1%. Fiat decreased by 38% and Opel/Vauxhall decreased by 16.1%, indicating that it is facing significant pressure in terms of new energy vehicle coverage and brand vitality.

◎ Renault Group achieved counter trend growth, increasing its market share by 5.0%, with Alpine growing by over 90%, reflecting the premium ability of high-end niche brands in precise product positioning.

◎ Tesla's registration volume has significantly decreased by 43.7% year-on-year, indicating an urgent need to adjust its product iteration pace and pricing strategy amidst fierce competition and the rise of local manufacturers.

◎ In contrast, SAIC Group from China achieved a growth of 33.3% with a registered volume of 107000 vehicles, demonstrating that Chinese brands have preliminary product strength and channel coverage advantages in the electric vehicle field, and are gradually integrating into the mainstream European market.

In the constantly evolving market landscape, the synergy between product structure adjustment, cost control capability, electrification capability, and brand strategy has become the key for manufacturers to break through. Mainstream car companies must form a joint force in electrification research and development, supply chain optimization, platform design, and brand positioning in order to cope with the continuous changes in demand structure.

brief summary

The performance of the European automotive market in the first half of 2025 demonstrates that the electrification process is transitioning from policy guidance to spontaneous market pull in the middle stage.

Hybrid and plug-in hybrid technologies remain the most competitive solutions in reality, providing a bridge between the old and the new before the battery, architecture, and energy replenishment network are fully mature. Although the pure electric market continues to grow, its foundation is weak and growth is unstable, and it still needs to rely on stronger product value realization and improved usability.