Austria reported a 12.1% increase in new passenger car registrations in the nine month period between January and September 2026, compared with the corresponding period a year earlier, new data from Statistics Austria has found.
“The market for new electric passenger cars is currently recording the strongest growth,” commented Manuela Lenk, director general statistics at Statistics Austria. “In September 2026, new registrations of electric cars rose by more than 80% compared with September 2025, providing a significant boost to overall new car registrations. Registrations of hybrid vehicles also continued to grow.”
Alternative drive systems
Cars with alternative drive systems accounted for 66.8% of all new car registrations over the period, with electric cars seeing a 36.9% increase in registrations, followed by petrol-hybrid cars (+24.8%). Diesel-hybrid cars, however, reported a −18.4% decline in registrations compared to the same period a year earlier.
Combined registrations of vehicles with alternative drive systems were up 25.3% compared with January to September 2025.
Conventional petrol and diesel cars continued to lose ground, with petrol car registrations declining by 4.8%, while diesel registrations fell by 13.9%. Together, the two categories accounted for 79,957 vehicles, or 33.2% of new registrations, down 7.5% year on year.
Elsewhere in the vehicle market, new motorcycle registrations increased by 10.3%, while moped registrations rose by 15.9%. Registrations of category N1 light commercial vehicles increased by 13.4%, while category N2 lorry registrations fell by 22%.
Volkswagen the most popular
Volkswagen was Austria’s most registered car brand during the first three quarters of 2026, with a 13.2% market share, followed by Skoda at 10.6%, BMW at 6.3% and Audi at 6.1%.
Among the ten most registered brands, BYD recorded the strongest growth, with registrations increasing by 68.2%. Skoda rose by 10.4%, Mercedes by 10% and Audi by 7.9%.
BMW led the all-electric market with a 10.1% share, ahead of Skoda at 9.8%, Tesla at 9.4%, BYD at 9.1% and Volkswagen at 8.2%. Read more here.
