The Best-Selling Car Brands in the EU

Key Takeaways

• Volkswagen ranks first among individual car brands in the EU. It registered 1.2 million new cars in 2025.
• Volkswagen held an 11.3% market share of all new car registrations across the EU.
• Two more Volkswagen Group brands cracked the EU’s top 10 individual car brands by 2025 registrations: Skoda in 3rd, Audi in 9th.
• Half of the EU’s top 20 car brands registered fewer cars in 2025 than in 2024.
• Cupra’s EU registrations rose 35.8% in 2025. It increased from 0.18 million to 249,179 units. It is the fastest growth rate among the EU’s top 20 car brands.
• Cupra and SAIC Motor’s combined growth reached 0.12 million units in 2025. That accounted for nearly all of the top 20 car brands’ entire net registration increase in the EU that year.

Top 20 Car Brands by New Registrations in the EU

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Volkswagen Outsells Every Individual Car Brand in the EU

Volkswagen is the leading individual car brand in the EU. It registered 1.2 million new cars in 2025.

The EU market grew 1.8% overall in 2025. It reached 10.8 million new car registrations that year. Volkswagen’s share of registrations reached 11.3%.

The next three best-selling car brands in the EU trailed by a wide margin:

• Toyota: 0.74 mil. registrations (6.9% market share)
• Skoda: 0.72 mil. registrations (6.7%)
• Renault: 0.67 mil. registrations (6.2%)

Volkswagen Group placed two more brands among the EU’s top 10 individual car brands by 2025 registrations. Skoda ranked 3rd and Audi is in 9th.

Cupra and SAIC Motor Are the EU’s Fastest-Growing Top 20 Car Brands by New Registrations

Cupra’s EU registrations rose 35.8% in 2025. It increased from 0.18 million to 0.25 million units.

Cupra’s growth rate was the fastest among the EU’s top 20 car brands.

SAIC Motor grew almost as fast as Cupra. Its car registrations rose from 0.16 million to 0.21 million units. That’s an increase of 33.9%.

Combined, Cupra and SAIC Motor added 0.12 million registrations in 2025. The top 20 car brands grew by just 0.13 million registrations overall that year. Cupra and SAIC Motor alone accounted for nearly all of that increase.

Cupra’s growth followed the first full year of sales for the Cupra Terramar. The Terramar won Germany’s Golden Steering Wheel award in 2025. Continued demand for its Born and Tavascan electric models also contributed.

SAIC Motor’s MG brand expanded further into European markets as part of a broader localization push. That push includes MG’s first European factory, planned for Ferrol, Spain.

Electrified vehicles kept gaining ground across the EU over the same period. Battery-electric models reached 17.4% of all new EU registrations in 2025. That share was up from 13.6% in 2024.

Adoption of Electric and Hybrid Passenger Cars in the EU ->

Half of the EU’s Top 20 Car Brands Registered Fewer Cars in 2025

Ten of the EU’s top 20 car brands registered fewer cars in 2025 than in 2024. The steepest declines came from:

• Seat: 0.19 mil. registrations (-14.8% market share)
• Volvo Cars: 0.24 mil. registrations (-14.5%)
• Fiat: 0.26 mil. registrations (-8.8%)
• Toyota: 0.74 mil. registrations (-6.6%)

Seat recorded the steepest decline in new car registrations among the EU’s top 20 car brands in 2025. Volkswagen Group has not launched a new Seat model since the Leon in 2020.

Seat and Cupra are sister brands within Volkswagen Group. Cupra posted the fastest growth. Yet Seat posted the steepest decline among the top 20 brands. 

The EU’s car market grew just 1.8% overall in 2025. That is a slow pace of growth for new car registrations. Growth across the top 20 brands was uneven rather than widespread.