Romania registered 825 battery-electric cars in July 2026 — 57% more than in July 2025, and 7% of a new car market that otherwise fell apart. Total registrations came to 11,740 units, down 28.2% year on year. The electric share went up while almost everything else went down.
The month's headline is that a Chinese model topped Romania's EV chart for the first time. The BYD Dolphin Surf, the small hatchback BYD sells across Europe as its entry car, took first place with roughly 100 registrations, with the Sealion 7 also on the podium.
The brand table
BYD's fifth place overall is the strongest result the brand has recorded in Romania, and it came in a collapsing market.
| Rank | Brand | July 2026 | Share | YoY |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dacia | 3,286 | 28.0% | −35.6% |
| 2 | Toyota | 1,250 | 10.6% | −29.4% |
| 3 | Volkswagen | 804 | 6.8% | −18.7% |
| 4 | Škoda | 802 | 6.8% | −36.3% |
| 5 | BYD | 672 | 5.7% | record |
| 6 | Mercedes-Benz | 597 | 5.1% | +8.0% |
| 21 | Tesla | 100 | 0.9% | +63.9% |
BYD's 672 cars and 5.72% share cover both electric and plug-in hybrid models, and over the first seven months the brand has registered 2,812 units for a 3.67% share and eighth place — the only Chinese manufacturer in Romania's EV and PHEV top ten.
Where Tesla stands
Tesla registered 100 cars in July for 0.9% of the total market and 21st place among brands. That is a small number in absolute terms, but it is up 63.9% year on year — Tesla grew in a market that shrank by more than a quarter.
The year-to-date picture is better still. Across January to July, Romania registered more than 6,300 electric cars for an 8.3% share, and the Tesla Model Y leads the model ranking on roughly 900 units, with the Model 3 second. The Dolphin Surf and Sealion 7 follow. Tesla's monthly registrations in Romania swing hard because deliveries arrive in batches, so a single month says less here than the seven-month total does.
The Spring stops
July was the first month in Romania's recent history in which not a single Dacia Spring was registered. The Spring was the car that introduced Romanian buyers to electric driving on price alone, and it finishes the first seven months in sixth place among EVs despite that zero.
Its disappearance and the Dolphin Surf's arrival at the top of the chart are the same story from two ends. The cheap-EV slot in the Romanian market has changed hands, and it went to a Chinese brand rather than to the local one.
What the split looks like
Chinese brands took more than a third of Romania's electric market in July. American brands accounted for around 22% and German brands around 19%. Behind the Dolphin Surf and Sealion 7, the Mercedes-Benz CLA placed fourth, with the Mazda 6e and Ford Puma Electric the strongest European entries, the MG4 Urban seventh and the BYD Atto 2 eighth.
Set against June, July's electric total was down 45% — June was an unusually strong month rather than July being a weak one. The trend that matters is the 57% year-on-year rise, in a market where overall registrations fell 28.2%.