Europe’s new passenger car market experienced a decline in January 2026. According to JATO Dynamics’ data, a total of 953,290 units were registered across Europe-28* - down 4.0% year-on-year. Both Germany and France recorded a decrease of 6.6%, while registrations in Spain dropped by 3.1%. In contrast, both Italy and the UK showed positive growth with registrations up by 6.3% and 3.4% respectively.
Despite dampened figures overall, the market continues to push towards electrification. Year-on-year registrations of BEVs increased by 13% with the segment making up 20% of the market.
PHEVs, the fastest-growing powertrain, recorded a year-on-year rise of 32% from 75,242 to 99,303 units accounting for 10% of the market. This growth has primarily been driven by Volkswagen Group’s new plug-in models – the Golf, Tayron, A5 and A3 – as well as the first and second best-selling PHEVs, BYD’s Seal U and Jaecoo’s 7.
MHEVs secured 26% of the market - just three percentage points below steadily declining ICE vehicles. HEVs remained stable accounting for 14% of the market - a year-on-year increase of 4%.
Daniele Ministeri, Senior Consultant at JATO Dynamics, said: “As demand for ICE vehicles declines, MHEVs are increasingly emerging as a natural substitute. Consumers are also becoming more willing to explore alternative powertrains and move away from traditional ICE vehicles, supported by the strong growth of both BEVs and PHEVs.”
At the group level, Stellantis performed well with registrations up 7.4% year-on-year. Despite declines of approximately 5% for both Peugeot and Jeep, Fiat overperformed (+24.7%), thanks to the New Grande Panda which is finally starting to deliver meaningful results.
However, looking across the top ten EU groups, these are the only signs of positive growth. Volkswagen Group saw a year-on-year decline of 4.4%, with Skoda being the only one of its brands to record a year-on-year increase – up by 9.8%. Despite Renault’s year-on-year increase of 4.6%, the broader Renault Group declined by 14.8%, dragged down by the Dacia Duster and Sandero despite stronger results for the Bigster.
Among China’s carmakers there were diverging trends. While established players like Geely Group and MG saw a decline in overall sales, down 7.3% and 5.3% respectively, newcomers continue to grow strongly bolstered by their BEV figures: BYD registered 8,977 BEV units (+86%) and Leap Motor registered 3,833 BEV units – a 357% increase on the same month last year.
Contact:
Bex Barton, +44, 7874 866091, jatoteam@firstlightgroup.io
Steffen Michulski, steffen.michulski@jato.com
Notes to Editors
*Europe-28: Austria, Belgium, Czechia, Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, France, Finland, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Latvia, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Sweden, Spain, Switzerland, Slovakia, Slovenia, UK.
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