Italy registered 8,122 battery-electric cars in October 2026, 6.1% of a market of 131,921, according to UNRAE. That is up from 5.0% a year earlier but a point and a half below September's 7.6%. Plug-in hybrids went the other way: 17,008 registrations, up 80.7%, for a 12.7% share — more than twice the electric total.
In the same month battery-electric cars took 41.5% of the market in France and a record 55.2% in the Netherlands.
October according to UNRAE
| Measure | October 2026 | October 2025 |
|---|---|---|
| Total registrations | 131,921 | 125,864 |
| Change | +4.8% | — |
| Battery-electric | 8,122 (+28.1%) | — |
| BEV share | 6.1% | 5.0% |
| Plug-in hybrid share | 12.7% | 7.4% |
| Hybrid share (full and mild) | 49.0% | — |
UNRAE says private buyers accounted for 54% of battery-electric registrations, while long-term rental took more than 43% of plug-in hybrids. From January to October Italy registered 1,400,991 cars, up 8.3%, and the electric share for the period stands at 7.8%.
Tesla: 497 cars after September's 2,132
Tesla registered 497 cars in Italy in October, up 94.1% from 256 a year earlier. In September it had registered 2,132, with the Model 3 and Model Y first and second in the electric ranking. October is the first month of a quarter, when fewer new Teslas reach European customers; Tesla had registered 265 in August before the September jump.
The Model Y was still Italy's third-best-selling electric car with 335 registrations, and the Model 3 ninth with 162. From January to October Tesla has registered 10,919 cars in Italy, 20.7% more than a year earlier. The Model Y is the second-best-selling electric car of 2026 on 5,757, just 65 ahead of the Dacia Spring (5,692) and far behind the Leapmotor T03 (23,640).
The October electric top 10
| # | Model | Registrations |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | BYD Dolphin Surf | 632 |
| 2 | Leapmotor T03 | 450 |
| 3 | Tesla Model Y | 335 |
| 4 | BMW iX1 | 269 |
| 5 | Toyota C-HR+ | 252 |
| 6 | Volvo EX30 | 226 |
| 7 | Renault Twingo E-Tech | 208 |
| 8 | Leapmotor B05 | 184 |
| 9 | Tesla Model 3 | 162 |
| 10 | BMW iX3 | 161 |
No model reached 1,000 registrations.
BYD registered twelve times as many cars
BYD registered 6,009 cars in Italy in October across all its powertrains, up from 1,874, which made it the seventh-largest brand in the market, 55 cars behind Renault. That is twelve times Tesla's total, although only one BYD, the Dolphin Surf, appears in the electric top 10. Leapmotor, sold through Stellantis dealers, registered 1,600, up from 288, and placed two models in the top 10. For the year BYD has 47,714 Italian registrations, more than four times Tesla's 10,919.
What UNRAE wants
UNRAE called the electric share "disconcerting" for the EU's second-largest car market by volume. "Italians do not need to be convinced: they need to be put in a position to choose the transition," said its president, Roberto Pietrantonio, arguing that the plug-in hybrid boom shows buyers respond when there is a concrete cost advantage.
The association criticised the government's 2027 budget bill, which raises the deductible cost cap for sales agents' cars to €35,000 and their deductibility for electric and hybrid cars from 80% to 90%. It leaves out company fleets, the buyers UNRAE says are needed to create volume and feed the used-car market. UNRAE now expects 1.64 million registrations in 2026 (+7.5%) and a 3.4% fall in 2027.