Europe March 2026: Sales up 11.1%, Tesla Model Y distant leader above Nissan Qashqai

The Tesla Model Y is by far the best-selling vehicle in Europe in March.

ACEA has the European new car market up a robust 11.1% year-on-year in March to 1,581,169 units, with a Q1 result up 4.1% to 3,521,110. Among the Top 5 markets in March, Germany fares best at +16%, followed by France at +12.9% and Spain at 11.7%. Italy is up 7.6% and the UK up 6.6%. Overall, Estonia manages the best performance at +81.5%, ahead of Hungary (+32.2%), Austria (+27.2%), Denmark (+26.6%) and Iceland (+25.7%). Only three countries are in negative: Luxembourg (-0.8%), Ireland (-10.9%) and Cyprus (-23%). Over Q1, Italy (+9.2%) is the most dynamic of the main markets above Spain (+7.6%), the UK (+5.9%) and Germany (+5.2%) whereas France (-2.1%) underperforms. Estonia (+100.4%) remains the overall best performer, distancing Iceland (+53.4%), Malta (+22.2%) and Austria (+17%).

BEV sales surge 41.7% or over 100,000 additional units year-on-year to reach 344,064 and 21.8% share vs. 17.1% a year ago in March 2026. Year-to-date volumes are up 26.2% or over 150,000 sales to 723,704 and 20.6% share vs. 17% over Q1 2025. In March, the biggest BEV volume comes from the UK at 86,120 (+24.2%), ahead of Germany at 70,663 (+66.2%), France at 49,406 (+68.8%), Norway at 17,406 (+55.5%), Italy at 16,121 (+72.1%), Belgium at 15,661 (+14.7%) and Denmark at 14,616 (+48.4%). Year-to-date, Germany is the highest at 159,630 (+41.3%), followed by the UK at 137,614 (+14.5%), France at 112,083 (+50.4%), Belgium at 39,469 (-2.3%), Italy at 38,084 (+65.7%) and Denmark at 34,970 (+42.6%).

The Nissan Qashqai is up to a record 2nd place in Europe in March.

In the OEM ranking, the VW Group (+5.5%) reaches over 380,000 units but trails the market, as do Stellantis (+7.1%), the Renault Group (+2%) and Hyundai-Kia (+5.5%). In contrast the BMW Group (+15.7%) spots a splendid YoY gain, but the best performer of the month is without a doubt Tesla (+89.4%) coming back from a weak year-ago result. The Toyota Group (+4.5%) and Mercedes (+1.6%) are also in (slight) positive but Nissan-Mitsubishi (-7.3%) and Ford Motor (-12%) struggle. Chery (+369%) and BYD (+151.8%) both stun while Mazda (+22.5%) enters the Top 15.

Looking at brands, Volkswagen (-0.4%) is stable which is a poor performance in the current dynamic context. Skoda (+19%) repeats at #2, a record ranking it has held 6 times in the past 12 months. BMW (+13.8%) is up two spots on last month to #3, overtaking Toyota (+4.7%) and Renault (+2.8%). Excellent month for Audi (+14.4%) up one rank to #6. None of the remaining Top 10 brands outpace the market, with Kia (+4.8%) and Mercedes (+1.6%) shy and Dacia (-0.4%) and Peugeot (-9.1%) in trouble. Further down, notice Leapmotor (+759.3%), Jaecoo (+311.1%), Omoda (+249.3%), BYD (+151.7%), Tesla (+89.4%), Citroen (+30.4%) and Fiat (+22.7%).

A historic win in the UK pushes the Jaecoo 7 into the European Top 30.

Model-wise, we have a clear leader this month: thanks to splendid performances in the UK, Germany and France, the Tesla Model Y (+116.6%) more than doubles its sales year-on-year to sign its first win of the year and with a very comfortable margin of almost 6,000 units over the #2. Down to third place this month, the Renault Clio (+3.8%) remains #1 year-to-date by far. 46% of the Clio’s March European sales are generated in France. The Nissan Qashqai is up 15 ranks on February to land at a record #2, helped by strong sales in the UK (31% of its March volume) and a slew of artificially boosted (reexports or fleets) results in smaller markets such as Hungary. This is the Qashqai’s first European Top 10 finish in a year (#4 in March 2025) and the second time it ranks at #2 after September 2017.

The Dacia Sandero (-10.2%) is back up to #4 but is down to a paltry 7th place over Q1 (-28.9%) whereas it ended 2024 and 2025 in pole position. The VW Golf (+3%) resists at #5 vs. #3 year-to-date. It is followed by the Toyota Yaris Cross (+14.8%) and VW T-Roc (-4.3%), the latter failing to capitalise (yet?) on its new generation. The Tesla Model 3 (+55.3%) is up a spectacular 33 spots on February to #11, the nameplate’s best ranking since December 2024 (#8). Leader a year ago, the Peugeot 208 (-27.9%) tumbles to a miserable #15 and ranks #9 year-to-date vs. #7 over the Full Year 2025. Notice also the Toyota Aygo X (+45.2%), Mercedes GLC (+31.3%), BMW X1 (+26.5%) and Hyundai Tucson (+23.7%) sporting significant gains in the remainder of the Top 30. Unbelievable crowned #1 in the UK, the Jaecoo 7 (+226.3%) cracks the European Top 30 at #29.

Previous month: Europe February 2026: Skoda up 18.6%, Fiat #10, Renault Clio most popular again

One year ago: Europe March 2025: BEV sales up 23.6%, Tesla down -29.2%, Peugeot 208 #1

Full March 2026 Top 15 OEMs, Top 84 All brands and Top 616 All models below.