Gasoline-Only Cars Slip Below Half of Global Sales for the First Time

For the first time on record, vehicles powered solely by gasoline have lost their majority in the global new-car market. According to data from Mobility Global, the research firm formerly known as S&P Global Mobility, pure gas models accounted for 49% of worldwide new-vehicle sales in the first six months of 2026 — a remarkable slide from the 73% share they held back in 2021.

Between January and June, sales of gasoline-only cars fell 10% year-over-year to 20.25 million units, cutting their market share by three percentage points in a single year, from 52% to 49%. But the milestone comes with an important asterisk: most of the vehicles replacing them still carry a gas tank. Conventional hybrids climbed 10% to 7.27 million units, capturing 18% of the market, while battery-electric vehicles rose 12% to 6.87 million units for a 17% share. Diesel, plug-in hybrids and other minor fuel types account for the remaining roughly 16%. In other words, around 83% of new vehicles sold this year still have an engine under the hood — only the battery-electric slice burns no fuel at all.

The shift appears closely tied to fuel economics. Oil prices spiked amid conflict in the Middle East, pushing buyers toward lower running costs. With the overall car market contracting about 5% in the first half, according to the IEA, gasoline-only sales fell at roughly twice that rate. The decline was steepest in China, down 26%, followed by Europe at 13%. In the EU, ACEA registration figures show battery-electric cars edging ahead of petrol cars through August, while petrol registrations dropped 18.6%. Meanwhile, battery-electric growth was strongest in Europe (up 32% to 1.81 million), Southeast Asia (up 81% to 350,000) and Oceania (more than doubling to 110,000). China remained the world’s largest EV market at 3.44 million units, despite a 3% dip, while North America slid 15%.

Mobility Global’s Yoshiaki Kawano told Nikkei that few EV buyers return to gasoline or hybrid cars, and he expects demand driven by “genuine consumer needs rather than subsidies” to expand as prices fall — a pattern echoed by a July CDK study in which 94% of EV owners said they would not go back to gas.

The United States stands out as a counterpoint, with EV sales taking a hit after the federal tax credit expired. Cox Automotive expects roughly 239,000 new EV sales in the third quarter, about 6% of the market and down some 45% from the 437,000 sold a year earlier when buyers raced to beat the September 30 deadline. Yet those buyers did not simply return to gas-only cars: Cox data shows hybrids hitting a record 16.3% share in the second quarter, with combined electrified vehicles rising from 22.4% to 23.2%. It remains to be seen whether the full-year figure stays below 50%, but the underlying trend shows little sign of reversing.