Over 1.7 million passenger cars were bought in the Netherlands in 2025, including almost 259,000 plug-in vehicles, according to new data from Statistics Netherlands (CBS).
The figures cover both new and second-hand purchases and changes of ownership, with cars changing hands more than once during the year counted only once.
As the statistics body noted, car purchases were largely concentrated among higher-income individuals.
‘The 10% of people in the second-highest income decile were the most likely to buy cars,’ it said. ‘The 10% of people on the lowest incomes were the least likely to buy cars – around 83,000 in 2025.’
Plug-in vehicles
Some 75,000 of the plug-in vehicles sold – including fully electric vehicles (FEVs) or plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) – were purchased by higher-income households, while 48,000 were purchased by the second-highest income group.
Despite the rise of electric vehicles, petrol cars remained the most common type of vehicle, with almost 1.4 million changing hands. Diesel accounted for a smaller share, although diesel purchases represented the highest proportion of vehicles bought by households in the lowest income decile.
Vehicle age
The age of vehicles also varied significantly according to household income, the data showed. More than 395,000 cars sold in 2025 were at least 16 years old, while around 148,000 were new. Cars aged one or two years were the least frequently purchased category, at around 137,000.
Households in the lowest income groups were more likely to purchase older vehicles. Two-thirds of the cars bought by the bottom 20% of earners were more than 10 years old. By comparison, households in the top 20% were more likely to purchase new or almost-new vehicles, with one-quarter of their purchases being new or no more than two years old.
On a regional basis, meanwhile, Zuid-Holland reported the highest number of cars sold or changing hands, at 325,300, followed by Noord-Brabant with 268,100 and Noord-Holland with 235,800. Gelderland recorded 220,600 transactions. At the other end of the scale, Flevoland recorded 49,000 and Zeeland 41,100. Read more here.
