Europe's electric car market is growing again — and quickly. But Cyprus is following the same transition in a slightly different way.
Across the EU, 1.89 million new battery-electric passenger cars were registered in 2025, almost 30% more than a year earlier. On Cyprus, meanwhile, it's hybrids rather than pure EVs that have become the clear favourite. During the first half of 2026, more than half of all passenger cars registered on the island were hybrids.
So while Europe is increasingly ready to go fully electric, Cypriot drivers seem to prefer a middle ground.
Electric cars are back in growth across Europe
After registrations dipped in 2024, battery-electric cars made a strong comeback last year. New registrations increased 29.7% to 1.89 million, while the total number of fully electric passenger cars on EU roads reached 7.59 million. Plug-in hybrids grew even faster, rising 34.2% to just over one million new cars.
Meanwhile, petrol and diesel continued moving in the opposite direction. New petrol registrations dropped 18.4% in 2025, while diesel fell 22%. The direction of travel is becoming difficult to miss.
Cyprus wants electrification — just not necessarily full EVs yet
This is where the local market gets more interesting. Between January and June 2026, 22,597 passenger cars were registered in Cyprus, 13% more than during the same period last year. And 51.7% of them were hybrids.
A year earlier, hybrids represented 43% of registrations. Petrol, meanwhile, fell from 43.6% to 35.2%, while diesel slipped to just 8.2%.
Fully electric cars? They're growing, but very slowly. EVs accounted for 4.9% of passenger car registrations, compared with 4.8% a year earlier. That tells us something important about the way Cyprus is approaching electrification.
Why hybrids make so much sense on Cyprus
Honestly, it's not difficult to understand their appeal. A hybrid gives you lower fuel consumption without asking you to change the way you live with your car.
There's no need to install a charger at home. No need to think about whether your apartment building has charging facilities. And no need to plan longer journeys around public charging stations. You simply fill up and drive. For someone living in a house with private parking, a full EV can make perfect sense on Cyprus. Distances are short enough that range is rarely a serious problem.
But for a large part of the population living in apartments, a hybrid remains the easier choice.
And the registration numbers suggest buyers agree.
That doesn't mean Cyprus is rejecting electric cars
Quite the opposite. The interesting part is that Cyprus appears to be moving in the same direction as the rest of Europe — just at a different speed.
Across the EU, battery-electric cars accounted for 20.6% of new registrations in April 2026, according to the European Commission. On Cyprus, pure EVs still represent less than 5% of passenger car registrations.
That's a huge gap. But it also leaves plenty of room for growth as charging infrastructure improves and more affordable electric models reach the market.
For premium buyers in particular, the transition is already easier. Cars such as the Tesla Model 3 and Model Y, BMW i4 and iX, Mercedes EQ models and Porsche Macan Electric have made choosing an EV much less of a compromise than it was only a few years ago.
The bigger shift is away from petrol
Perhaps the most interesting number isn't the EV figure at all. It's petrol. In just one year, petrol's share of passenger car registrations on Cyprus dropped from 43.6% to 35.2%. Hybrids have effectively taken its place as the default choice.
And that may tell us more about where the Cypriot car market is heading than EV registrations alone. The transition isn't happening overnight. It's happening one hybrid at a time.
Final thoughts
Europe is clearly accelerating towards electric cars. Cyprus is moving in the same direction, but local buyers have found their own stepping stone. For now, that's the hybrid.
It offers much of what people want from electrification — lower fuel consumption and better efficiency — without requiring them to rethink where and how they charge their car. Will Cyprus eventually follow the rest of Europe towards full EVs?
Probably. But with hybrids already accounting for more than half of passenger car registrations, the island seems perfectly happy to take the transition one step at a time.
