The Kraftfahrt-Bundesamt (KBA) - Germany's federal motor transport authority - published the April 2026 new-car registration figures on 7 May. The headline number is calm: 249,163 passenger cars (Pkw) newly registered, up +2.7% year-on-year. The story underneath the headline is anything but calm.
BEV Registrations Up 41% YoY
The most consequential figure in the KBA release is the BEV count. 64,350 new battery-electric cars were registered in April 2026 - a market share of 25.8% and an increase of +41.3% over April 2025. That is the highest April BEV share Germany has ever recorded, and it is happening despite the December 2023 abrupt cancellation of the federal EV purchase subsidy that had dragged BEV share down to ~12% through mid-2024.
This is the recovery many analysts had stopped expecting. The mechanism is mostly cheaper Chinese-built models entering the German market, paired with Volkswagen Group's price cuts on the ID.3 and ID.4, plus pent-up demand from corporate fleets that paused purchases through the worst of the subsidy chaos.
The Powertrain Split
April 2026's full powertrain breakdown:
- Hybrid (incl. PHEV): 39.2% - 97,753 cars, with PHEV alone at 27,546 units
- BEV: 25.8% - 64,350 cars (+41.3% YoY)
- Petrol: 21.4% - 53,420 cars (-20.0% YoY)
- Diesel: 13.0% - 32,437 cars (-13.8% YoY)
Diesel's share is now nearly half what it was in 2019, and the long-term trend is unambiguous. Petrol is also in retreat - pure petrol fell 20% YoY in absolute terms. Combined, internal-combustion-only powertrains (petrol + diesel) accounted for just 34.4% of April registrations. That is a number that would have been inconceivable in a German monthly bulletin five years ago.
Average CO₂ Drops 11% YoY
The KBA reports average CO₂ emissions of newly-registered cars at 97.6 g/km for April 2026, down 10.7% on April 2025. That is the consequence of the BEV share lift plus the petrol/diesel decline - Germany is now within reach of the 95 g/km manufacturer fleet target that was originally set for 2021.
Brand Standings
Volkswagen led the German market in April with an 18.5% share, ahead of Mercedes-Benz (9.3%) and BMW (9.0%). The big-three German premium plus VW account for over a third of the market - a more concentrated picture than UK or Ireland, where the leaderboard is wider.
Private vs commercial split: 64.6% commercial, 35.4% private. Private registrations rose 8.2% YoY, slightly faster than the headline market - another signal that household consumer demand is recovering, not just fleet.
What April Signals
Germany ended 2025 with BEV share at 19.1%. April 2026's 25.8% reading puts the country on track for a ~22-25% full-year average - well above the 2025 mark and a rebuke to the narrative that BEV demand had structurally collapsed after the subsidy cliff. Watch the May and June numbers for confirmation; if BEV holds above 22% through the summer, the back half of 2026 will be the strongest German EV market on record.
The Germany dashboard on AutoNergy lets you compare month-over-month BEV share to the long ICE-decline trend.