Gasoline-only cars made up 49% of global new-vehicle sales in the first half of 2026. That is the first time the share has dipped below half on record, according to Mobility Global (formerly S&P Global Mobility) data first reported by Nikkei and picked up by Electrek. In 2021, the share was 73%.
What the numbers say
In the half-year, 20.25 million gasoline-only cars were sold worldwide, down 10% from the same period a year earlier. Here is how the main groups compare:
| Powertrain | Share of sales | Units | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gasoline only | 49% | 20.25 million | -10% |
| Conventional hybrid | 18% | 7.27 million | +10% |
| Battery-electric | 17% | 6.87 million | +12% |
| Other (diesel, plug-in hybrid) | about 16% | n/a | n/a |
A conventional hybrid pairs a gas engine with a small electric motor that the car charges by itself, no plug required. A plug-in hybrid has a bigger battery you can charge from an outlet.
A 24-point drop in five years is a fast pace. But one detail changes the picture: about 83% of new vehicles sold worldwide still have a combustion engine, hybrids included. As Electrek puts it, a hybrid is a gas car that uses less gas. So the decline of gasoline-only cars doesn’t mean the end of gasoline.
Where EVs are growing
Battery-electric sales vary a lot by region, per the first-half data:
- Europe: up 32% to 1.81 million units.
- Southeast Asia: up 81% to 350,000 units.
- Oceania: more than doubled to 110,000 units.
- China: down 3% at 3.44 million, still about half of all EVs sold globally.
- North America: down 15%.
Look at the gap between the extremes. China, the biggest EV market on the planet, slipped slightly while smaller markets surged. North America moved against the trend, with a double-digit drop.
Forecasts and context
InsideEVs notes that some experts expect electric cars to dominate sales by around 2030. This half-year result supports that story, but it also shows the road runs through hybrids first: they took most of the space gasoline-only cars gave up.
Global numbers are a compass, not a map of your local market, and the sources give no country-level breakdown beyond the regions above. What matters for a buyer is total cost, which includes fuel or charging, so compare efficiency and energy prices where you live before picking a powertrain.
What to watch next
We’ll keep following this in our electric vehicles section, and you can find everything else on the IntelliTechs homepage.
The symbolic 49% mark could repeat or be beaten in coming half-years if gasoline-only sales keep falling and hybrids and EVs keep growing. What the sources don’t tell us is when EVs will catch hybrids in volume, or whether the drops in China and North America will last. What we can say today is simple: gasoline-only cars are now a global minority, and the combustion engine is far from gone.
