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Germany’s new-car market resurgence continued in October, as it achieved a fourth consecutive month of growth. The latest figures represent a significant improvement in form, helped by consistently strong electric vehicle (EV) registrations. Tom Hooker, Autovista24 journalist, breaks down the data.
A total of 250,133 new cars were delivered to customers in October, up 7.8% year on year. This equated to a gain of 18,141 units, according to KBA data.
Commercial registrations accounted for most of the market at 65.6%, with a 5.9% uptick in demand. Meanwhile, the private channel saw an even greater growth of 11.8%, making up 34.4% of total deliveries.
‘October 2025 marked another strong month for the German passenger car market. This continued the recovery trend seen in previous months, as October’s increase signalled sustained momentum,’ said Robert Madas, Autovista Group’s regional head of valuations.
‘However, in the year to date the market only showed a slight growth of 0.5% to 2,360,481 units,’ he added.
October signalled the first time in 2025 that the year-to-date figures grew year on year. A slow recovery followed a 4.7% decline between January and June. Germany has now joined the UK and Spain in the black, separating itself from the woes of Italy and France.
However, the UK and Spain have a considerable buffer separating them from dipping into the red. Meanwhile, Germany is not out of the woods just yet. The country saw just 12,415 additional units leave forecourts across the first 10 months of the year.
Since 2021, November has been a slightly higher volume month for new-car registrations in Germany. Apart from 2024, the same goes for December. So, even a minor slip-up, akin to the single-digit declines in February and March, would jeopardise the market’s overall result.
Moreover, the country’s growth is heavily dependent on the performance of just two powertrains. Without them, October’s result would have flipped into a 5.9% descent.
‘This overall registration growth was primarily driven by a surge in EV deliveries, underlining a shift toward alternative drive systems,’ stated Madas.
Combining battery-electric vehicle (BEV) and plug-in hybrid (PHEV) figures, the EV market enjoyed a registration rise of 52.1% during October. This added to the powertrain group’s perfect growth streak so far in 2025.
A total of 83,371 new EVs were delivered to customers in the month. This was the highest total since August 2023. During this period, results were skewed by the ending of commercial customer purchase incentives for BEVs in September 2023.
October’s high watermark equated to a 33.3% EV share. This was its largest slice of the overall market in 26 months. Considering there are no purchase incentives currently influencing registrations, this result is substantial. It can be seen as a natural gauge of consumer interest and carmaker strategies.
The share was also a 9.7 percentage point (pp) increase compared to October 2024. EVs sat 4.7pp behind the internal combustion engine (ICE) market, the smallest gap between the two so far this year. In January 2025, the gap was 20.8pp.
‘This acceleration highlights the success of current CO₂ reduction strategies, as internal-combustion engine registrations continue to decline. The announced EV purchase incentives are expected to further boost demand, even though details remain unclear,’ Madas explained.
‘Industry experts urge swift, concrete action to expand charging infrastructure and cut electricity costs. They also warned that delays and high public charging prices are stalling EV adoption,’ he said.
From January to October, 683,333 new EVs took to Germany’s roads. This was a 47.2% increase year on year, and a gain of 219,254 units. The powertrain group accounted for 28.9% of the market, up 9.1pp.
EVs trailed the ICE market share by 13.2pp in the cumulative figures. Although this is a bigger gap than in October, it is much smaller than the 33.9pp difference recorded during the same period last year.
Representing 62.9% of the EV market in October, BEVs had another positive month of registrations. The technology recorded 52,425 deliveries, its highest volume total since December 2023, when private purchase incentives for BEVs ended. In fact, last month’s figure was just 2,229 units behind.
The figure translated to a 47.7% improvement, the fourth consecutive month of double-digit BEV growth. It captured 21% of overall registrations, up 5.7pp year on year. Furthermore, it was the powertrain’s highest share since December 2023, which was 22.6%.
Volumes of all-electric vehicles increased by 39.4% across the first 10 months of 2025, with 434,627 deliveries. BEVs represented 18.4% of the market, up 5.1pp year on year.
While accounting for a smaller portion of the EV market, PHEVs continued to see the greatest growth of any powertrain in Germany.
The technology witnessed its 10th straight month of double-digit growth in October, with a 60% uptick in deliveries. This was the smallest PHEV improvement since February 2025, proving its strong demand compared to 2024.
Yet, the powertrain’s 30,946-unit total in October was its highest volume month since December 2022. However, this month saw a skewed result due to the looming termination of incentives, handing the technology a 22.2% share.
Since then, diesel-powered cars have taken a larger slice of the overall market than PHEVs. This was except for last month, when the latter recorded a 12.4% share and edged out the fuel type by 0.2pp.
Unsurprisingly, this was the highest PHEV share since December 2022 and represented a 4.1pp increase from 12 months ago. Looking at the first 10 months of 2025, the powertrain saw a 63.4% growth, with 248,706 registrations. This gave the technology a 4pp increase in share to 10.5%. It trailed diesel by 3.8pp in the cumulative figures.
The decline of petrol and diesel has been relatively consistent across Europe’s major new-car markets this year. For both fuel types, October’s result in Germany was no exception. However, upon close inspection of the figures, a startling new low became apparent.
Combining petrol and diesel volumes, the ICE market accounted for 38% of overall registrations last month. This was the powertrain group’s lowest share since December 2022, an incentive-affected period. It also equated to a 9.6pp drop year on year.
This came alongside a 13.8% decline in volumes to 95,168 units. The decline from January to October was more severe, at 21.2%. This meant 267,863 fewer ICE models were delivered, bringing the total to 993,120 registrations. In turn, the grouping’s market share fell from 53.7% to 42.1%.
Breaking things down, petrol-powered models suffered a 12.9% decline in October, with 64,706 registrations. This was the powertrain’s ninth double-digit drop so far this year. Consequently, the fuel type endured a 6.1pp downturn in share to 25.9%. This was petrol’s lowest market hold since December 2022.
Totals spanning the first 10 months of the year provided an even bleaker image. Registrations fell 22.5% to 654,657 units. This was 190,606 deliveries fewer than one year prior. Petrol-powered models made up 27.7% of total volumes, down 8.3pp. After starting 2025 as the most popular powertrain, it has dropped 0.9pp behind hybrids, which includes full and mild versions.
Like its ICE sibling, October marked the lowest monthly share for diesel-powered cars since December 2022, sitting just 1.4pp higher. Its 12.2% market hold was down 3.4pp year on year, too.
Last month was the fuel type’s seventh month of double-digit decline in 2025, with a 15.8% fall to 30,462 units. The result came after three consecutive months of single-digit drops.
From January to October, diesel’s drop was slightly better than petrol’s. The powertrain posted an 18.6% decline to 338,463 deliveries. This gave the diesel a 14.3% share, down from 17.7%.
Amid strong EV growth and relentless ICE declines, hybrids have remained consistent. The technology capped 14 months of consecutive growth in October, thanks to a 7.6% rise in volumes to 70,652 units. This meant it took a leading 28.2% share of the market, 2.3pp ahead of petrol.
This may seem positive at first. However, October presented the lowest hybrid market share since May. It also denoted a 0.1pp drop compared to 12 months ago, its first year-on-year decline since December 2022.
So, even with petrol’s continued fall, which remains the second-most-popular powertrain, hybrids have not been able to increase their dominance. Despite lower volumes, the increasing share for BEVs and PHEVs has come at the expense of ICE models and hybrids.
Over the first 10 months of 2025, hybrids accounted for 28.6% of the market, up from 26%. It enjoyed a 10.3% increase in volumes to 673,922 units.
Adding hybrids to the EV total, the electrified market continued its perfect run of double-digit improvements so far this year. Its most recent 27.8% growth gave the powertrain group a 61.6% share, up 9.7pp from October 2024.
In the year-to-date, the electrified market recorded a 26.3% rise. This equated to a gain of 282,203 units, overcoming the losses incurred by ICE models by 14,340 registrations. It made up for 57.5% of overall volumes, up from 45.8%.
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