Western Europe's plug-in new car market continues its upward trajectory, fuelled by new CAFE targets and more cost-effective battery chemistries
- Matthias Schmidt
- 7 days ago
- 2 min read
The latest quarter sees plug-in new passenger cars account for 29.6% of the Western European new passenger car market, the strongest month on record excluding the Q4 2022 anomaly, according to the European Electric Car Study published by Schmidt Automotive Research.
While record quarter Q4 2022 was fuelled by German consumers rushing to take delivery of a plug-in car prior to record combined €9,000 OEM and government purchase subsides were reduced from Q1 2023, the latest three month period between April and June 2025 produced the first genuine quarter to see penetration levels hover just 0.4ppts short of the 30% barrier which the report forecasts will be achieved on an annual basis by the end of 2025.
With the return of UK purchase subsidies from the closing third of the year, aiding manufacturers in achieving UK regulatory-mandated targets for BEVs, and a return of the French social-leasing scheme during the final quarter, the upward momentum isn't expected to pause.
Meanwhile, a host of new Western models equipped with a more cost-effective LFP battery chemistry are seeing a return to A/B segments being offered with BEV model line-ups, with the lower energy density from the chemistry being a credible trade-off for lower prices in the entry-level segments. This is slowly helping lagging Southern European markets gain traction.
Chinese OEMs are meanwhile fueling a return in upward momentum for PHEVs across the monitored 18 market regions that account for 95% of the wider EU+EFTA+UK region. Sino-brand OEMs are leveraging PHEVs, given that the hybrids aren't impacted by the EU's anti-subsidy tariffs in place since November 2024.
Meanwhile, key premium model launches from 2026 from the likes of BMW Group and Mercedes-Benz on respective Neue Klasse and MBEA architectures, offering new levels of energy density, and faster charging speeds are expected to see premium uptake accelerate during the next 12-months.
Further details are available in our full client studies (€).
Source: Schmidt Automotive Research
All of our reports, which feature exclusively researched data, can be purchased here. ◼︎︎
*Western Europe 18 Markets: EU Member States prior to the 2004 enlargement plus EFTA markets Norway, Switzerland, Iceland, plus UK
Comments