Germany has reached a historic milestone in its automotive market as electric vehicles outsold petrol-powered cars for the first time in March 2026, according to official data released by the Federal Motor Transport Authority (KBA) in Flensburg on Tuesday. The data shows that 70,663 newly registered passenger cars were purely electric, representing 24 percent of all new vehicle registrations for the month. In comparison, registrations of new petrol vehicles declined by 4.9 percent year-over-year to 66,959 units.
The new car market demonstrated robust growth in March and throughout the first quarter of 2026. A total of 294,161 brand-new passenger vehicles were registered in the third month of the year, marking a 16 percent increase compared to the same period in 2025. For the entire first quarter, the market recorded growth of 5.2 percent.
New electric vehicle registrations experienced particularly strong growth, surging 66.2 percent compared to March 2025. Meanwhile, diesel vehicle sales showed a marginal decline of 0.6 percent during the same period. Hybrid vehicles maintained the largest market share at approximately 40 percent. Nearly 118,000 hybrid vehicles were newly registered in March, including close to 30,000 plug-in hybrids.
"The German new car market is gaining momentum again," stated consulting firm EY. "The strong performance in March compensates for the disappointing development in the first two months of the year."
However, EY expert Constantin Gall cautioned against expecting continued substantial growth. "The framework conditions remain poor, and nothing is likely to change in the foreseeable future," he explained. "The economy is weakening, ever-new geopolitical crises and armed conflicts are massively dampening sentiment, unemployment is rising, and no turnaround is in sight."
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