Germany registered 256,774 new passenger cars in September 2026, up 9.0% on September 2025, according to the Kraftfahrt-Bundesamt, the federal authority that counts every registration (KBA press release 41/2026, 5 October 2026). ecomento.de reports the same total.
34.5% battery-electric, the first month above one third
Battery-electric registrations reached 88,599 units, up 94.7% on 45,495 a year earlier, a 34.5% share of the month. Hybrids took 98,871 cars (38.5%), of which 27,861 were plug-in hybrids by the press text. Petrol fell 29.2% to 44,632 (17.4%) and diesel fell 20.1% to 23,058 (9.0%).
Private buyers are pulling the market
Private registrations rose 28.5% to a 40.3% share, while commercial registrations slipped 1.2%. The income-tested electric car grant of up to 6,000 euro that has been paid out since May targets private buyers.
Tesla and BYD surge, Volkswagen still leads
Volkswagen was again the largest brand with 42,461 registrations and a 16.5% share, down 6.1%. Tesla grew 268.7% to 12,552 (4.9% share), BYD grew 85.6% to 6,040 (2.4%) and MG Roewe grew 60.8%. Among the segments, SUVs grew 28.5% to a 39.6% share.
Nine months in, the year is up 5.3%
Cumulative registrations for January to September 2026 stand at 2,221,798, up 5.3%. Battery-electric cars total 604,144 so far, a 27.2% share and up 58.1% on the same period of 2025. Volkswagen holds 17.8% of the year, ahead of Mercedes (8.8%), BMW (8.5%) and Skoda (8.4%).
Open the live Germany dashboard for the monthly registration bars, the BEV share line and the KBA brand table.