Battery-electric and hybrid models did almost all the work of keeping the European market in growth, and Chinese badges are increasingly the ones doing the selling.

One in five new cars registered in the European Union so far this year was fully electric, and the share held by Chinese-badged models has roughly doubled in the space of twelve months.

Figures published on July 23 by the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA) show electrified powertrains, meaning battery-electric, plug-in hybrid, and conventional hybrid cars, doing almost all the work of keeping Europe’s car market in growth.

Total EU registrations were up about 4% year-to-date, to roughly 4.7 million cars, a modest recovery for a market that spent much of 2025 flat or shrinking.

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The growth is lopsided. Petrol and diesel together have slipped below 30% of EU sales, with both fuels down more than 16%, while everything with a plug or a battery is climbing.

Battery-electric cars accounted for about 20% of EU sales, up from around 15% a year earlier, with registrations rising 35.7% according to ACEA.

Across a wider group of 17 European markets tracked by New AutoMotive, more than 1.24 million battery and plug-in cars were registered in the first half, a 33.7% jump from the same period in 2025.

The pace picked up as the half wore on. June brought about 275,000 fully electric registrations across those 17 markets, a 39.5% rise, lifting the monthly battery-electric share to 25.6%.

Adoption stays wildly uneven by country: Norway ran at 96.5% electric in June, Denmark at 79.1%, while Germany led on raw volume and Poland trailed near 5%.

Hybrids remain the single largest category, at close to 38% of EU registrations, having grown about 12% on the year.

Plug-in hybrids took nearly 10% of the market and rose by roughly a quarter, helped by fresh model launches from Chinese and European makers alike.

Between them, the three electrified categories now account for a clear majority of new cars sold in the bloc, a reversal from the petrol-dominated mix of only a few years ago.

The sharper story sits with the brands doing the selling. Chinese marques captured a record 10.9% of the European market in June, on 150,272 registrations, up 118% year on year, according to registration data from Dataforce, roughly double the share they held a year earlier.

Over the first five months the five biggest Chinese groups together registered more than 619,000 cars across the EU, the UK, and the EFTA bloc. Much of that gain is coming at the expense of legacy carmakers that once treated the segment as unassailable.

The advance is no longer a purely electric one. Chinese manufacturers have leaned into plug-in and conventional hybrids to sidestep the EU tariffs of up to 45% imposed on battery-electric imports from China, duties that do not apply to hybrid models.

Roughly a quarter of all hybrid and plug-in hybrid sales in the EU now carry a Chinese badge.

BYD has been the clearest beneficiary. It outsold Tesla across Europe over the year to May, with 135,307 registrations against the US firm’s 118,068, according to Dataforce, and its European volumes have more than doubled.

In June, MG held a slim lead over BYD among the Chinese brands, separated by fewer than 400 units.

SAIC’s MG remained the largest Chinese seller by volume, while newer entrants expanded from a low base.

Leapmotor registrations rose more than 550% year-to-date, Chery’s Omoda and Jaecoo brands grew several times over, and Chery began deliveries of its namesake marque in Europe in June, led by the Tiggo 8 SUV.

Tesla, meanwhile, has drifted to around 2% of the EU market, below BYD, as a refreshed Model Y met stiffer competition and softer demand.

The company does not break out European figures separately in its quarterly updates, and its share has fallen from higher levels in previous years.

ACEA’s next monthly release will show whether the electrified momentum carries into the second half.

It will also show whether Brussels’ tariff wall does anything to slow a Chinese advance that, more and more, is arriving under a hybrid badge rather than a purely electric one.