Austria registered 31,534 new battery-electric vehicles (BEVs) in the first half of 2025, a 42.2% increase over the same period last year, according to Statistics Austria. The figure pushed the market share of BEVs to 22% of all new passenger car registrations, making electric cars the third most common drivetrain after petrol hybrids and conventional petrol engines.
In total, 143,051 new passenger cars were registered between January and June 2025, up 5.9% year-on-year. The growth was primarily driven by electric and hybrid powertrains. Petrol hybrids topped the registration charts with 45,634 units, representing a 31.9% share of the market. These figures reflect a 40.9% year-on-year increase. However, Statistics Austria does not distinguish between full hybrids and plug-in hybrids.
While petrol cars maintained second place overall, they experienced a significant drop of 12.6%, with 40,550 units registered and a 28.3% market share. Diesel vehicles faced a steeper decline, falling 33.8% to 17,648 units and accounting for just 12.3% of the market. Other alternative drivetrains, such as fuel cell vehicles, recorded only two registrations during the period.
June data highlighted similar trends. Battery-electric vehicles saw a 32.9% year-on-year increase to 6,239 units, capturing a 22.4% share. Petrol hybrids led the month with 9,203 new registrations (33% share), up 22.7%. Pure petrol cars declined 32.2% but still outpaced BEVs with 7,474 units and a 26.8% share. Diesel vehicles declined by 40% to 3,546 units.
Electrification’s growing role in Austria’s vehicle market has contributed to a reduction in average CO₂ emissions. Newly registered passenger cars emitted an average of 97.0 grams of CO₂ per kilometre, the first time the figure has dropped below 100 g/km. Petrol cars averaged 135.9 g/km and diesel cars 152.9 g/km, both slightly above last year’s levels. Petrol hybrids saw emissions fall to 99.5 g/km from 105.2 g/km.
The Tesla Model Y was Austria’s top-selling electric vehicle in the first half, with 2,460 units registered. It was followed by the Skoda Elroq (1,339) and BMW iX1 (1,318). BMW led all manufacturers in BEV registrations with 3,866 units, followed by Volkswagen with 3,570 and Tesla with 3,399.