2 weeks Ago By Chris Randall
The data now published by the manufacturer’s RAI Association, the dealers’ association BOVAG and the management consultancy RDC shows that new registrations have risen by 7.9 per cent compared to the first quarter of 2024. At that time, there were 30,057 new registrations of electric cars.
Across all drive types, 91,766 new cars were registered in the Netherlands in Q1 2025, a decrease of 9.8 per cent compared to the previous year. This makes the growth in e-cars all the more significant.
Looking at the market shares, pure petrol cars are becoming increasingly insignificant at just 16.5 per cent, while hybrid vehicles dominate at 46.8 per cent.
However, the statistics do not differentiate between mild hybrids, full hybrids and plug-in hybrids. At 35.3 per cent of new registrations, electric cars account for more than a third of the pie.
“Despite positive figures for electric cars, the growth of electric driving is also being held back by the general decline in the car market,” explained Huub Dubbelman, Chairman of the Passenger Cars and Light Commercial Vehicles Section of the RAI Association. “This is happening just when further acceleration is needed. After all, electric driving is not yet a matter of course; only a small proportion of the fleet drives completely emission-free.
If the tax incentives are reduced even further after 2026, there is a risk that we will lose the momentum of sustainability. The government must therefore continue to invest in the promotion of electric driving.” The most registered, and thus most popular electric car in the Netherlands came from Kia.
The Kia EV3 was only launched in the Netherlands in July 2024, and has since taken the market. The electric compact SUV was the most popular electric car every month between January and March, as well as also being the most popular new car regardless of drive type. The vehicle achieved a total of 4,002 new registrations in the first quarter of 2025.
A comparison with the same period last year is not possible because the model was not yet available. This means that Kia has sold more units of the EV3 than Tesla has sold of its two best-selling vehicles, the Model 3 and Model Y, combined. The Model 3 sold 1,660 units, which is 37 per cent fewer.
And 1,752 units of the Model Y were registered, which is even 58 per cent fewer than a year ago. This shows how Tesla is currently struggling, although the company is hoping that Model Y deliveries will quickly pick up again now that the switch to the facelifted Juniper version has taken place. In 2024, the Model Y still led the statistics of the most popular cars in the Netherlands with 19,058 new registrations.
bovag.nl , autoweek.nl (both in Dutch).
