Europe April 2026: Chinese (+124.5%) help prop market up 6.4%

Chinese brands account for 16.5% of the UK market in April. Picture carmagazine.co.uk

Dataforce has the European new car market (EU+EFTA+UK) up 6.4% year-on-year in April to 1,155,601 units. The year-to-date volume after four months is up 4.7% to 4,687,265. According to ACEA, sales are up 7% for the month to 1,152,315 and 4.8% YTD to 4,672,775. It’s actually the Chinese that do the heavy lifting this month at +124.5% to 104,571 sales and 9% share vs. 4.3% a year ago in April 2025. Note this volume doesn’t include Lotus, Polestar and Volvo. Note also that the Chinese hold 16.5% share in the UK vs. 7% last year. Looking at the main markets for the month, the UK (+24%) performs best above Italy (+11.6%) and Spain (+8.4%) whereas Germany (+2.7%) and France (-0.3%) disappoints. The biggest gainers overall are Estonia (+78%) and Slovenia (+42.5%) while Iceland (-29%) and Slovakia (-16.4%) are hit the hardest. Year-to-date, Italy (+9.8%), the UK (+9%) and Spain (+7.8%), German (+4.5%) matches the overall European growth but France (-1.6%) drops.

In March, BEVs surge 38.3% year-on-year to 255,296 and 22.2% share vs. 17.1% a year ago PHEVs are up 20.3% to 118,645 and 10.3% share vs. 9.2% last year and HEVs gain 12.7% to 419,556 and 36.4% share vs. 34.6% in March 2025. Year-to-date BEV sales are up 29.1% to 978,845 and 20.9% share vs. 17% a year ago. This month we can share with you the countries with the biggest BEV share. For the month of March, no surprise, Norway dominates at 98.6%, distancing Denmark (81.9%), Finland (48.8%), Iceland (44.5%), Sweden (40.7%), the Netherlands (37.4%), Belgium (37%), Luxembourg (31.1%), Ireland (27.2%), the UK (26.2%) and France (26.2%). The markets with the lowest BEV share are Croatia (3.8%), Greece (4.9%), Poland (5.1%), Estonia (6%), Romania (6.3%), Latvia (6.4%), Lithuania (7.1%) and Slovakia (7.1%). Italy is at 8.5%, Spain at 9.1% and Germany at 25.8%.

In the OEM ranking, the VW Group (+3.2%) and Stellantis (+4.3%) are up and just below the market growth rate whereas the Renault Group (-2.9%) and Hyundai-Kia (-6.3%) are down. The BMW Group (+2.6%) rounds out the Top 5 ahead of the Toyota Group (-1%). Mercedes (+7.3%) is strong at #7. The Geely Group (+6.2%) is up two spots on March to #9 just as SAIC Motors (+37.8%) is back inside the Top 10. BYD (+124.5%) is up to a record #11 but Chery (+344%) is catching up fast at a best ever 12th place. Tesla (+35.6%) slips out of the Top 15 but registers a very significant YoY gain.

The Dacia Sandero is the most popular vehicle in Europe in April. Picture largus.fr

Over in the brands charts, Volkswagen (-0.9%), Toyota (-0.8%) and BMW (-1.3%) are stable and once again Skoda (+9.8%) delivers an outstanding result and ranks at a record #2 for the third month in a row and the 6th time in the past 10 months. Audi (+9.9%) and Mercedes (+7.3%) also impress in the remainder of the Top 10. Further down, notice Stellantis fares Fiat (+19.2%), Opel (+14.7%) and Citroen (+7.2%) but the biggest gains in the Top 20 are for BYD (+124.5%) and MG (+38.1%). Illustrating the Chinese wave currently engulfing the European market, Geely (+1534.8%), Leapmotor (+421.8%), Omoda (+261.3%), Zeekr (+208.1%) Xpeng (+103.3%), Lynk & Co (+98%), Jaecoo (+65.3%) all post surreal YoY upticks while newcomer Chery ranks at #34.

Model-wise, the Dacia Sandero (+2.3%) is back in positive YoY for the first time since last September and ranks #1 for the first time since last October. 3/4 of the Sandero’s April volume comes from three markets: France (28%), Italy (21%) and Spain (18%). The YTD models ranking is so close that its April performance propels the Sandero from #7 after 3 months to #2 now. The Peugeot 208 (+4.7%) surges 13 spots on March to #2, with 37% of its volume coming from France. The Golf (+9.8%) remains the best-selling VW in Europe and surprisingly lodges the biggest gain in the Top 10, equal with its stablemate the VW T-Roc. The proportion of sales coming from home is 43% for the Golf and 31% for the T-Roc. Still #1 year-to-date, the Renault Clio (-18%) falls to #5, mainly due to its poor performance at home (-23.2%) which accounts for 44% of its April total. The Opel Corsa (+3.1%) and Skoda Octavia (+5.3%) are the only two additional gainers in the Top 10.

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

One year ago: Europe April 2025: BYD above Tesla for the first time, Renault Clio #1

Full April 2026 Top 15 OEMs, Top 86 All brands and Top 587 All models below.