Gasoline-Only Cars Fall Below Half of Global New-Car Sales for the First Time
Mobility Global data show gas-only vehicles at 49% of sales in early 2026, down from 73% in 2021, as hybrids and electric cars grow.
Photo: CEphoto, Uwe Aranas / CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons
For the first time on record, vehicles that run on gasoline alone made up less than half of new cars sold worldwide. In the first half of 2026 they accounted for 49% of global sales, down from 73% in 2021, according to figures from auto-data firm Mobility Global reported by Electrek on October 5, 2026.
The numbers
- Gasoline-only sales: about 20.25 million, down 10% from a year earlier
- Hybrids: about 7.27 million, up 10%, an 18% share
- Battery-electric: about 6.87 million, up 12%, a 17% share
- Gas-only sales fell 26% in China and 13% in Europe
- Battery-electric sales rose 32% in Europe and 81% in Southeast Asia
In the EU, battery-electric cars narrowly outsold petrol cars through August, according to industry association ACEA figures cited in the report.
What's driving it
Nikkei linked the shift to fuel prices that spiked during the Middle East conflict. Yoshiaki Kawano of Mobility Global said few electric-car buyers go back to gas cars or hybrids, and expects demand to be driven by "genuine consumer needs rather than subsidies" as prices fall.
Context worth knowing
This is a six-month snapshot during an oil-price shock, and the full-year picture may differ. The 49% figure counts only gas-only cars, so roughly 83% of new vehicles still have an engine. The shift is also uneven: battery-electric sales fell 3% in China and 15% in North America, and U.S. growth has come mainly from hybrids, whose sales rose 23%.
Even so, the milestone shows how quickly the mix of cars on sale is changing.