Market report · September 2026
More than every third new car runs on electricity
In September 2026, 21’948 passenger cars were newly registered in Switzerland, 9,6 per cent more than in the same month a year earlier. Of those, 7’784 were purely electric — 35,5 per cent, more than every third new car. A year earlier the same month stood at 25,7 per cent. The overall market is growing, the electric share is growing faster.
Two movements pointing the same way
Across the first nine months it is 173’537 passenger cars, 2,7 per cent more than in 2025. Purely electric were 45’010 or 25,9 per cent, with a plug — that is including plug-in hybrids and range extenders — 66’294 or 38,2 per cent. In the same period last year the same figures were 21,0 and 32,0 per cent.
The single month lies well above the annual average, and that is not an outlier but the usual pattern: the plug-in share rises towards the end of the year because manufacturers have fleet targets to meet. Anyone extrapolating the year from September overestimates. Anyone taking the annual average for the current state underestimates.
The ranking and the quarterly rhythm
The Tesla Model Y leads the ranking with 4’044 vehicles and grows by 20 per cent year on year. Škoda sits below it twice, with Elroq and Enyaq, and taken together would reach 5’033 — more than the Model Y. Elroq grows by 34 per cent, Enyaq by 40, the fourth-placed Volvo EX30 by 30 — all three faster than the Model Y. In September alone the ratio is reversed: 1’679 Model Y against 312 Elroq and 278 Enyaq. Behind that lies no market shift but Tesla’s delivery rhythm. Across the nine months the quarter-end months of March, June and September average 1’384 vehicles, the other six 161 — a factor of 8,6. For Škoda the same ratio is 1,08. For Tesla it is therefore the year-on-year comparison that carries; the monthly figure hangs on the quarter.
More than every third new car ran purely on electricity in September. A year earlier it was every fourth.
What this means for a purchase
A model registered 2’000 times a year has a used car market in three years. One with 200 does not. That is the practical core of these figures: how widespread a model is decides later resale value, workshop density and parts supply — not the test score at market launch.
Anyone buying today who wants to sell again in three to four years is therefore better served by the annual total than by the month. Anyone keeping a car for a long time can read the radar the other way round: a rarely registered model will be cheap in five years, because the used car market does not know it.
What these figures do not say
They count new registrations, not sales. A vehicle an importer registers on itself appears just like one a private person ordered. They also do not cover used imports, which add roughly another quarter on top — there is a separate article on that in the blog. And they say nothing about the fleet: 24,6 per cent of new cars are purely electric, but only a good 5 per cent of all passenger cars on Swiss roads.
Sources: auto-schweiz, new registration statistics (plug-in file and MOFIS total market), cut-off date 30.09.2026, passenger cars Switzerland and the Principality of Liechtenstein. The register behind it: ASTRA, Vehicle Registration Information System (IVZ). Drivetrain shares cross-checked against the open ASTRA new registration data set via opendata.astra.admin.ch. The full analysis including the data extract is in the market report for the same cut-off date, linked under «Blog».
