Europe’s electric vehicle market hit a new milestone in the first quarter of 2026, with over one million plug-in vehicles registered for the first time in a three-month period.
The 28% year-on-year surge to 1,083,241 units, recorded by EV Volumes, came despite ongoing geopolitical and economic uncertainty that some analysts expected to slow the transition.
Battery-electric vehicles drove the bulk of that growth.
BEV sales hit 725,375 units, up 25.4% from the first quarter of 2025, capturing a 67% share of the overall EV market. Plug-in hybrids posted even stronger percentage growth, climbing 33.6% to 357,866 units, though they remained a smaller slice of the pie at 33%.
March pushed the numbers over the top
March alone accounted for 46.6% of all first-quarter EV deliveries, with 504,885 units sold. That month’s 38.4% jump was fueled largely by BEVs, which rose 40.9% to 345,208 units. PHEVs also did well in March, up 33.4% to 159,677 units, but the all-electric segment clearly led the charge. The first quarter typically posts the lowest cumulative volumes of any quarter, while the fourth quarter usually records the highest. So the fact that Q1 2026 trailed Q4 2025 by just 64,361 units is notable. Q4 2025 was itself the best quarter ever for EV sales in Europe.
Volkswagen still leads, but its grip is loosening
Volkswagen held onto the top spot as Europe’s best-selling EV brand in the first quarter, with 96,601 units. But its growth was a modest 2.8%, well behind the market’s overall pace. That dragged its market share down 2.2 percentage points to 8.9%.
BEVs made up 62% of the brand’s total deliveries.
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More than half of VW’s EV sales came from three models: the ID.3, ID.4 and ID.7. The Tiguan PHEV placed third in the plug-in hybrid standings with 13,016 units.
BMW and Audi go in different directions
BMW took second place with 79,648 deliveries, but its year-on-year increase was just 0.6%. That meant its market share actually shrank by 1.9 points to 7.4%, as newer competitors ate into its position. The iX1 was its top EV, accounting for 17.5% of the brand’s total. Audi told a different story. Its volumes surged 50.1% to 66,086 units, good for fifth place. Its market share widened by 0.9 points to 6.1%. The Q4 e-tron was its best seller with 14,503 deliveries, though that model actually saw an 8.7% decline from a year earlier. No single Audi model had a standout performance, yet the brand’s overall result was strong.
Tesla bounces back, BYD keeps climbing
Tesla posted a 45.4% increase to 78,642 units, reclaiming third place.
Its market share rose 0.9 points to 7.3%.
The brand’s typical end-of-quarter delivery surge was on full display in March, when volumes jumped 85.3% to 52,801 units, giving it 10.5% of the monthly market.
The Model Y led all BEVs in the quarter with 51,395 sales, more than 23,000 units ahead of the second-place model. The Model 3 added 26,671 deliveries. Together, those two models accounted for 99.3% of Tesla’s total. The carmaker sells no PHEVs, which makes its performance against brands offering both technologies even more striking.
BYD was the fastest-growing brand in the top 10.
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Its volumes jumped 154.7% to 73,535 units, giving it a 6.8% share — double what it held in Q1 2025. The brand sat just 6,113 units behind second place. PHEVs accounted for 53.1% of BYD’s sales, led by the Seal U, which was Europe’s best-selling PHEV model in the quarter with 21,494 deliveries.
The Chinese brand placed three models in the top 10 PHEV standings. The Atto 2 sat 10th with 7,347 sales. On the BEV side, the Dolphin Surf and Sea Lion 07 added 8,907 and 7,729 units, respectively.
Chinese brands are arriving in numbers
BYD is not the only Chinese name gaining ground. The Leapmotor T03, a small all-electric city car, placed ninth in the BEV standings with 14,962 units. Its March performance was particularly strong, with a 541.4% surge to 6,831 deliveries. The Jaecoo J7, another Chinese PHEV SUV, followed the BYD Seal U in the quarterly PHEV rankings with 17,434 units. It led the March PHEV standings after a 338.8% jump to 10,359 sales, helped by strong demand in the UK.
Not every new entrant is already challenging the established players. Some are still finding their footing. But the direction of travel is clear, and the numbers show that Chinese brands are now a permanent feature of the European EV market.
Mercedes-Benz holds steady, some models soar
Mercedes-Benz captured 5.9% of the market with 64,385 units, down 0.9 points year on year despite an 11.6% sales increase. The CLA was its top EV, making up just over a fifth of the brand’s total with 13,225 sales. In March, the CLA posted a 5,986.2% surge to 6,634 units, landing it 10th in the monthly BEV standings. The GLC PHEV placed fifth in the cumulative PHEV rankings with 10,923 units. The EQA added 13.1% of the brand’s volume. Mercedes-Benz spread its sales across 26 different EV models in the quarter, a wider range than most competitors.
The first quarter of 2026 showed that Europe’s EV market is not just growing — it is reshaping. Chinese brands are moving up the table. Incumbents like VW and BMW are losing share even as they sell more cars. And the old pattern of a slow first quarter followed by a strong finish may no longer hold. If March is any guide, the rest of the year could look very different from what the market has come to expect.