Diesel remains competitive in volatile 2025 EU LCV market

30 January 2026

The EU’s light-commercial vehicle (LCV) market struggled in 2025, as electric powertrains were unable to recoup the losses encountered by the diesel sector. But how did the bloc’s big four markets perform over the year? Autovista24 special content editor Phil Curry unpicks the numbers.

While the EU’s new-car market continues on a path to electrification, its LCV market remains committed to internal-combustion engine (ICE) models, specifically diesel. This path has caused issues in the market, according to the latest figures from ACEA.

The LCV market ended 2025 with an 8.8% decline, as 1,447,273 units took to roads across the EU. This decline was driven primarily by a fall in diesel registrations, with increasing electric vehicle (EV) and hybrid deliveries unable to counter the deficit.

The figures suggest that while EV adoption is growing, there is still some way to go before it can challenge the current market leader.

Diesel dominates the LCV market

Diesel continued to dominate the LCV market in 2025, with 1,168,561 units delivered to customers across the year. This was good enough for an 80.7% market share. However, volumes fell 12.8% between January and December, while the hold of the market total fell by 3.7 percentage points (pp).

Europe’s second-best-selling powertrain type in the LCV market was the EV grouping, combining battery-electric and plug-in hybrid technologies.

With 161,733 registrations, it ended the 12-month period up by 68% year on year.Yet, this was only enough for an 11.2% market share, a jump of 5.1pp, but still 69.5pp below the share of diesel.

Hybrid-powered LCVs, made up of full and mild-hybrid technologies, were the only other powertrain grouping to achieve growth in 2025. With 39,114 registrations, volumes increased by 21.4%. This gave the powertrain a 2.7% market share, up by 0.7pp compared to 2024.

Meanwhile, petrol deliveries slumped by 31.9% to 64,269 units, with their 4.4% market share in 2025 down by 1.5pp.

The sector with the smallest volume in 2025 was the ‘others’ category. This consists of fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) and vehicles powered by natural gas, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), E85/ethanol, and other fuels. The category saw 13,596 deliveries across the full year, a 43.4% year-on-year decline. This equated to a 0.9% market share, down 0.6pp.

Challenge for electrification

The results highlight that electrified models still have work to do in to topple the dominance of ICE LCVs.

Combining EV and hybrid volumes, electrified models recorded 200,847 registrations in 2025. This translated to a 71.2% increase year on year. Even so, this was still some way off the 1,232,830-unit figure achieved by petrol and diesel models.

Additionally, the 72,379-unit improvement of electrified models was not enough to counterbalance the 171,370-unit decline of diesel alone in 2025. So, the market still has some way to go to achieve electrification as the dominant propulsion.

However, it seems diesel demand is slipping. Despite a modest decline in 2025, compared to petrol powertrains, the fuel-type’s market share fell by 9.5pp compared to 2021. In the same period, EVs have increased their share by 8.2pp.

Spain soars as big markets struggle

Of the EU’s big four automotive markets, only Spain saw LCV growth in 2025. With 185,559 units, deliveries were up 11.7%. This closely replicated the country’s new-car market performance, which also stood out compared to other major markets.

Spain’s LCV growth was driven by the EV sector, which recorded 17,476 registrations, an increase of 142.5% year on year.

Another LCV market that aligned with its new-car market result was France. LCV registrations were down by 5.6% compared to 2024, with 358,299 registrations. The overall drop came as EV deliveries rose by 39.5% and hybrid registrations increased by 44.9%.

However, these performances were not enough to combat a 6.2% diesel decline and a 38.6% petrol slump. The ‘others’ category also recorded a 63.3% fall.

Breaking the trend of parallel performances between the passenger car and LCV market, the latter sector struggled in Germany. LCV volumes declined by 5.4%, as 265,801 new models made it to the country’s roads.

As in France, EVs performed well, with a 101.7% rise to 30,252 units. Hybrids also enjoyed a strong result, up 4.3% with 1,701 registrations. Conversely, diesel deliveries fell 10%, while petrol dropped 29.1%, and the ‘others’ sector saw a 50.8% loss in volumes.

Italy’s LCV market ended 2025 with a decline of 5%. While EV registrations soared by 139.9% to 10,307 units, every other powertrain grouping failed to improve. Diesel deliveries dropped by 8.8%, while petrol was down 0.9%. Hybrid volumes fell by 3.5% as the ‘others’ category dropped by 12.1%.

Full year of decline for LCV market

The full-year figures were not helped by a decline in the fourth quarter of 2025. This contributed to the market’s first full-year decline since 2022. Volumes dropped by 10.4% from October to December, with 373,266 LCVs taking to EU roads. This translated to a 43,291-unit loss year on year.

In the last three months of the year, diesel registrations fell by 16.8%, with 291,482 deliveries, according to Autovista24 calculations. Despite this, the powertrain still dominated the LCV market, with a 78.1% share of the total. This was, however, down by 6pp year on year.

EV registrations soared by 80.3% in the same period, with 52,401 units making their way to EU roads. This was good enough for a 14% market share, doubling its hold during the fourth quarter of 2024. Yet, this was still some way off the diesel total.

Hybrids were the only other powertrain in the quarter to record year-on-year growth, based on Autovista24 analysis. Volumes were up 39.5% with 11,653 deliveries. However, their total and their 3.1% market share were still behind that of petrol.

The fossil fuel accounted for 3.8% of LCV registrations, even though its 14,309-unit tally was down 38.6% year on year. Rounding out the quarter, the ‘others’ category achieved 3,421 deliveries, a fall of 38.3%. This meant the powertrain group took 0.9% of the market, down by 0.4pp compared to the fourth quarter of 2024.