Passenger cars in the EU

Data extracted in July 2025

Planned article update: December 2025

Highlights

Between the end of 2023 and the end of 2024, the number of registered battery-only electric passenger cars increased by 32% and amounted to almost 5.9 million vehicles at EU level.

In 2024, Luxembourg featured the highest share of 'youngest' passenger cars, with 20.2% of cars being less than 2 years old.

This article describes the development in passenger car stocks and new registrations in the European Union (EU), providing also more detailed information on passenger cars powered by 'alternative fuels'.

Overview: car numbers still growing with a slowdown for electric vehicles; overall, alternative fuels still represent a low share

Overall, the passenger car fleet in almost all EU countries has increased over the last 5 years, exceeding an EU total of 259 million cars (Table 2). The highest number of cars per 1 000 inhabitants was recorded in Italy, followed by Luxembourg and Finland (Figure 3). In 2024, Luxembourg had the highest share of 'young' vehicles, while Estonia reported the highest share of passenger cars over 20 years old, followed by Romania and Finland (Figure 5).

Despite an increase over the last years, passenger cars powered by alternative fuels represented only a small share in the new registration of passenger cars in the EU in 2024 (Table 1), still considerably behind petrol-fuelled cars but now exceeding the diesel-fuelled ones (both excluding hybrids). The share of cars powered by alternative fuels among the newly registered passenger cars (Figure 2), in most countries is still below 20%.

Nevertheless, in 2024 the number of battery-only electric passenger cars across the EU amounted to almost 5.9 million (Figure 1), which was about 117 times higher than in 2013 and 10 times higher than in 2019. The largest annual increases were noted between 2019 and 2020 (85.3%) and between 2020 and 2021 (77.5%). Since 2013, their share in the total number of passenger cars increased from 0.02% to 2.3%.

Figure 1: Battery-only electric passenger cars, EU, 2013-2024
Source: Eurostat (road_eqs_carpda) and (road_eqs_zev)

New passenger car engines: hybrids rising, battery-only electric stagnating, diesel declining

Consumer preferences whether a new passenger car should be powered by a petrol, diesel or an alternative fuel vary across the EU countries (Table 1). Among the 27 EU countries, only Denmark registered a higher number of alternative energy cars. Petrol (including hybrids) is the major primary source of motor energy everywhere else. In 11 EU countries, the number of newly registered alternative energy cars exceeded that of diesel-powered cars (Belgium, Denmark, France, Cyprus, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal, Romania, Finland, Sweden).

Table 1: New passenger cars by type of engine fuel, 2024
Source: Eurostat (road_eqr_carmot), (road_eqr_carpda) and (road_eqr_zev)

In 2024, the highest shares of petrol-powered cars (including hybrids) among the new registrations were noted in Cyprus (89.6%), Greece (82.0%), Bulgaria (79.5%), Slovenia (77.0%) and Poland (76.1%). High shares were also recorded in Slovakia (74.3%), Croatia (74.1%), Spain (73.9%), Hungary (73.8%), Lithuania and Estonia (both 71.5%), France (70.7%), Latvia (68.7%), Romania (68.2%), Czechia (67.5%), Italy (66.8%), Finland (64.9%), Belgium (64.6%), the Netherlands (63.8%), Germany (61.7%), Portugal (61.5%), Ireland (60.4%), Austria (59.4%), Malta (57.3%), Luxembourg (55.1%), and Sweden (54.6%).

Among the candidate countries and potential candidate, most new passenger cars were powered by a petrol engine in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro (2022 data), Georgia, Serbia, Türkiye and Ukraine, while in Moldova, Albania and Kosovo* (2021 data) the diesel engine is dominant.

^{Kosovo*: This designation is without prejudice to positions on status and is in line with UNSCR 1244/99 and the ICJ Opinion on the Kosovo Declaration of Independence.}

When it comes to pure petrol and diesel fuel types (excluding hybrids), the picture is somewhat different. Among the EU countries, Belgium, Denmark, Malta, the Netherlands, Finland and Sweden show more new passenger cars powered by alternative fuels than new cars powered by pure petrol. A total of 16 countries have more new hybrid passenger cars (petrol and diesel, plug-in and others) than new cars powered by pure petrol or pure diesel-powered new cars or alternative fuels: Belgium, Estonia, Ireland, Greece, Spain, France, Italy, Cyprus, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Latvia, Hungary, the Netherlands, Romania, Finland, and Sweden. A higher share of new cars powered by pure petrol were registered only in 9 EU countries. At EU level, the total number of new hybrid passenger cars (3.9 million) exceeds, for the first time, the number of new passenger cars powered by pure petrol (3.6 million).

Compared to 2023, the registration of new battery-only electric and plug-in hybrid passenger cars at EU level decreased by 6.1% and 6.5%, respectively. However, the number of new other hybrid passenger cars increased by 18.5%, and total hybrid passenger cars by 12.7%.

In the EU countries, EFTA countries, candidate countries and the potential candidate for which recent data are available, an increase in the share of new registrations of passenger cars powered by alternative fuels can generally be observed in the last 3 years (Figure 2). In 2024, this share became the majority in Norway (87.9%) and Denmark (51.3%). It exceeded 20% in Malta (37.7%), Sweden (36.8%), the Netherlands (35.2%), Finland (29.7%), Belgium (28.8%), Luxembourg (27.6%), Portugal (27.1%) and Liechtenstein (23.5%). For all these countries, the share of alternative fuels overtook the diesel share in 2024. This was also the case in France, Cyprus, Romania, and Switzerland.

Contrary to the EFTA countries, most candidate countries recorded much lower shares of alternative fuel passenger cars than EU countries with only Moldova (26.4%), Ukraine (15.3%), Albania (13.3%) and Türkiye (11.3%) having a share above 10%. Concerning battery-only electric vehicles, only Ukraine and Türkiye featured a share above 10%.

Figure 2: New passenger cars with alternative fuel engine, 2022-2024
Source: Eurostat (road_eqr_carmot) and (road_eqr_carpda)

Government incentives to stimulate the use of cars with lower emissions include, for example, tax reductions, subsidies or specific privileges such as access to lanes reserved for public transport and free parking. Other main reasons are the number and variety of passenger car models with alternative fuel engines offered, as well as the more competitive pricing of such models. On the contrary, and linked especially to battery-only vehicles, the limited electric charging infrastructure and the fear of running out of electric power (‘range anxiety’) are often evoked as main obstacles.

A 5.9% increase of registered passenger cars in the EU since 2019

In 2024, the number of registered passenger cars in the EU exceeded 259 million, corresponding to an increase of 5.9% as compared with 2019 (Table 2). The highest number of registered passenger cars was observed in Germany with more than 49 million cars, followed by Italy (more than 41 million cars) and France (more than 39 million cars). Over the 5-year period from December 2019 to December 2024, there was a strong growth in the number of registered passenger cars in several EU countries: the highest growth over this period was recorded in Romania (22%), followed by Lithuania and Croatia (both 15%), Slovakia (14%), Cyprus (13%), Ireland, Czechia, Hungary and Portugal (all four 12%), Greece (11%), as well as Bulgaria (10%).

Table 2: Passenger cars, 2019-2024
Source: Eurostat (road_eqs_carmot)

Amongst the EU countries with the highest motorisation rates, i.e. passenger cars per 1 000 inhabitants, there are several smaller countries (Figure 3). Italy heads the list (701 passenger cars per 1 000 inhabitants) followed by Luxembourg (670 cars per 1 000 inhabitants). Other countries with a high motorisation rate include Finland (666 cars), Cyprus (661 cars), and Estonia (635 cars).

These EU countries are overtaken by one EFTA country: Liechtenstein (767 cars), while the other EFTA countries Iceland (639 cars), Switzerland (542 cars) and Norway (517 cars) have lower motorisation rates; the latter 2 countries below the EU average (576 cars).

Figure 3: Motorisation rate, 2024
Source: Eurostat (road_eqs_carhab)

At the other end of the scale, a particularly low motorisation rate was recorded in Latvia (424 cars), despite an 8% growth in the number of registered cars over the period 2019-2024. The motorisation rate in the EU candidate countries and the potential candidate for which data are available is substantially lower than for the EU countries. The lowest value, 189 cars per 1 000 inhabitants, was recorded in Türkiye.

Still 10 EU countries with a majority fleet of diesel passenger cars

In 14 of the 24 EU countries for which information is available for 2024, there were more petrol cars than diesel cars (including hybrids), with the share of petrol cars ranging from 85% in the Netherlands to 49% in Italy (Figure 4). In the other 10 EU countries, diesel cars outnumbered petrol cars with shares ranging from 66% in Latvia to 49% in Austria and Bulgaria. Despite efforts across Europe to increase the share of cars with low emissions, the share of passenger cars powered by alternative fuels remained low in 2024 in most EU countries. In 4 out of 24 EU countries for which information is available, passenger cars using alternative energy represented less than 2% of the total passenger car fleet. The EU country with the highest share is Bulgaria, where the passenger cars powered by alternative fuels reached 14.4% in 2024 (of which liquefied petroleum gas 12.5%). Other countries with notable shares of passenger cars using alternative fuels are Norway (27.3%), Denmark (12.0%), Sweden (11.2%), Italy (10.6%), Hungary (7.7%), Lithuania, Luxembourg and the Netherlands (all three 7.2%), Belgium (5.9%) and Latvia (5.4%). Among candidate countries and the potential candidate, the highest share of passenger cars of alternative fuels was registered in Türkiye (33.2%), Georgia (30.1%) and Moldova (17.8%). In Norway almost all (99.9%) of alternative fuels passenger cars are battery-only electric vehicles while in Türkiye and Moldova the share of LPG cars is dominant among the passenger cars using alternative fuels.

Figure 4: Passenger cars by type of engine fuel, 2024
Source: Eurostat (road_eqs_carpda)

Small petrol engines more common than medium-sized and large engines

In 14 out of 22 EU countries for which data are available, it can be noticed that the share of small petrol engines is higher than the cumulated shares of the medium- and large-sized ones (Table 3). In the vehicle industry, there is a general tendency to “downsize” engines, i.e. reduce the engine displacement without reducing the power output, mainly for energy efficiency reasons.

In Malta, in 2024, more than half of all passenger cars had small petrol engines (55.1%), followed by the Netherlands with 51.2%. In Cyprus and Finland, medium-sized petrol engines powered 39.0% of the passenger cars. The highest shares of large petrol engines were found in Estonia (10.9% of all passenger cars), Finland (9.1%) and Luxembourg (9.0%); and in the EFTA countries Liechtenstein (16.5%) and Switzerland (10.7%).

Table 3: Petrol-powered passenger cars by size of engine, 2024
Source: Eurostat (road_eqs_carmot)

Overall, passenger cars with small engines generally use petrol as fuel; there are relatively few passenger cars with small diesel engines in the EU. Medium-sized engines dominated amongst the diesel-powered passenger cars in all EU countries for which data are available (Table 4). This was particularly the case for the group of countries with the highest overall share of diesel-powered passenger cars (Ireland, Spain, France, Croatia, Lithuania, Latvia, Austria, Portugal and Romania). However, for Lithuania and Latvia, which had an even higher proportion of diesel-powered vehicles than the other countries in the group, the share of large motor engines (> 2 000 cm³) was quite significant (25.7% and 20.9%, respectively).

Table 4: Diesel-powered passenger cars by size of engine, 2024
Source: Eurostat (road_eqs_carmot)

'Youngest' passenger car share highest in Luxembourg

The shares of the 'youngest' passenger cars (less than 2 years old) were highest in Luxembourg (20.2%), Germany (15.0%), Sweden and Belgium (13.7%, 2023 data for Belgium), Ireland (12.8%, 2023 data), Austria (12.6%), the Netherlands (12.6%) and Denmark (10.4%). Conversely, various other EU countries reported a large share of 'old' passenger cars (20 years or older) in 2024 (Figure 5). Those countries were Estonia (36.3%), Romania (36.0%), Finland (34.2%), Poland (29.9%, 2023 data), Portugal (28.7%), Lithuania (27.6%), Hungary (27.2%), Malta (26.9%), Latvia (26.1%) and Spain (25.6%).

Figure 5: Passenger cars by age, 2024 (i.e. on 31 December 2024)
Source: Eurostat (road_eqs_carage)

In past years, some countries have been offering programmes supporting the purchase of new cars with low emissions while scrapping the owners' old cars. The general aim of these programmes has been the renewal of the passenger car fleet with lower emission cars, while simultaneously stimulating the economy. These programmes have had a certain influence on the age composition of passenger cars in individual countries. Figure 6 presents the EU countries with the highest shares of the youngest and oldest passenger cars in 2024 (i.e. on 31 December 2024).

Figure 6: Age of passenger cars, 2024 (i.e. on 31 December 2024)
Source: Eurostat (road_eqs_carage)

Source data for tables and graphs

Passenger cars in the EU: tables and figures

Data sources

The main source is the 'Eurostat/ITF/UNECE Common Questionnaire on Inland Transport Statistics'. Some gaps have been filled in with estimates of the European Alternative Fuels Observatory (EAFO) or of the European Automobile Manufacturers' Association (ACEA). Some public sources (NSI websites, Open data) have been used, as well.

Coverage

The data in this article covers the EU countries, the EFTA countries and the candidate countries and potential candidate (list of countries and the corresponding country codes).

Definitions

All definitions used are taken from the Eurostat/UNECE/ITF Glossary for Transport Statistics, currently in its 5th edition. This glossary can be found on Eurostat's website Eurostat/UNECE/ITF Glossary for Transport Statistics.

Passenger cars

Road motor vehicle, other than a moped or a motorcycle, intended for the carriage of passengers and designed to seat no more than nine persons (including the driver).

Included are:

Passenger cars
Vans designed and used primarily for transport of passengers
Taxis
Hire cars
Ambulances
Motor homes
Micro-cars (needing no permit to be driven)

Excluded are light goods road vehicles, as well as motor coaches and buses, and mini-buses/mini-coaches.

New motor vehicles registered during the year

The new motor vehicles registered during the year are those motor vehicles that are first-time registered as new in a motor vehicle register, irrespective of the nationality of the register. The imported second-hand vehicles are not first-time registered but should be regarded as re-registered vehicles. Thus, should not be included in the number of new motor vehicles registered first time during the year.

Motor energy

The principal type of motor energy used by the vehicle is certified by the competent authority of the country of registration. For hybrid or dual-fuelled vehicles adapted for using more than one type of motor energy (e.g. LPG and petrol, or electricity and diesel, etc.), the principal type of motor energy should be, where possible, an alternative fuel.

Alternative fuel

A type of motor energy other than the conventional fuels petrol and diesel. Alternative fuels include electricity, LPG, natural gas (LNG or CNG), alcohols, mixtures of alcohols with other fuels, hydrogen, bio-fuels (such as biodiesel), etc. (this list is not exhaustive). Alternative fuels do not include unleaded petrol, reformulated petrol or city (low-sulphur) diesel, neither hybrid petrol-electric nor hybrid diesel-electric motor energy.

Motorisation rate

The number of passenger cars per 1 000 inhabitants.

Context

The Common Questionnaire on Inland Transport Statistics is a joint project of Eurostat, the International Transport Forum (ITF) and the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE). The data are provided on a voluntary basis by a large number of countries, both within and outside the European Union. Data is collected from reliable sources, but data collection methodologies are not harmonised at EU level. Comparability across countries is restricted as the classifications used in the national vehicle registers are not harmonised. Vehicle registers may exclude taxis, pick-ups and "vans for passengers" from the definition of "passenger cars", and may also exclude very old vehicles. This article covers data provided by the EU countries, EFTA countries, EU candidate countries and the one potential candidate.

Explore further

Database

Transport, see:

Road transport (road)

Road transport equipment - Stock of vehicles (road_eqs)

Road transport equipment - New registration of vehicles (road_eqr)

External links

Legislation

Sustainable and Smart Mobility Strategy - putting European transport on track for the future, COM(2020) 789 final