February shows a slight recovery for the European car market which, after a slow start to the year, returned to growth with a +1.4% increase, reaching 865,437 registrations.
Among the major markets, Italy led the upturn with a strong +14% (equal to 157,248 registrations, over 19,300 more than in February 2025), followed at a distance by Spain (+7.5%) and Germany (+3.8%). In contrast, France recorded a sharp decline (-14.7%).
Looking at the first two months of the year, demand for new cars in Europe fell by 1.2%, with a total of 1,664,680 units registered. Italy delivered the best performance among the main markets, growing by +10.2% year-to-date (299,239 registrations compared to 271,563 in 2025), followed by Spain (+4.6%). France (-11.1%) and Germany (-1.4%) remained in negative territory.
In terms of powertrains, hybrid vehicles continue to be the leading choice, accounting for 38.7% of the market, followed by petrol cars (22.5%), electric vehicles (18.8%), plug-in hybrids (9.8%) and diesel cars (8.1%).
