Gas cars are now a minority of the world’s new car sales. Gasoline-only vehicles made up 49% of global new-vehicle sales in the first half of 2026, down from 73% in 2021, according to Mobility Global data first reported by Nikkei. It’s the first time on record that they’ve been under half. But there’s a catch: most of the cars taking their place still have a gas tank. Gas cars lost 24 points of share in under five years Mobility Global is the auto data firm formerly known as S&P Global Mobility, which was spun off from S&P Global this year. Nikkei reported its first-half numbers last week, and they show sales of gasoline-only cars down 10% from a year ago to 20.25 million units between January and June. Their share fell three points in a single year, from 52% to 49%. Advertisement - scroll for more content Battery-electric vehicles grew 12% to 6.87 million units and took 17% of the market, up three points. Conventional hybrids grew 10% to 7.27 million units, or 18%. PowertrainH1 2026 salesChangeShareGasoline-only20.25 million-10%49%Hybrid7.27 million+10%18%Battery-electric6.87 million+12%17%Diesel, plug-in hybrid and othernot reportednot reportedabout 16% That last row is our math. The reported shares add up to 84%, and the rest is diesel, plug-in hybrids and a few minor fuels. Nikkei ties the acceleration to oil. Fuel prices spiked with the conflict in the Middle East, and buyers went looking for lower running costs. The whole car market shrank about 5% in the first half, according to the IEA, so gas-only sales fell twice as fast as the market. Gas car sales dropped the most in China, down 26%, followed by Europe at 13%. That matches what we’ve been reporting from both markets. In China, sales of gas cars and conventional hybrids fell 40% in August while battery-electric sales edged up. In the EU, ACEA’s registration data has battery-electric cars ahead of petrol cars for the year through August, 1,641,333 to 1,634,733, with petrol down 18.6%. The EV numbers by region show where the growth is. Mobility Global has battery-electric sales up 32% in Europe to 1.81 million, up 81% in Southeast Asia to 350,000, and more than doubling in Oceania to 110,000. China was down 3% at 3.44 million, which is still half of the world’s total. North America was down 15%. Yoshiaki Kawano, an associate director at Mobility Global, told Nikkei that few EV buyers go back to gasoline cars or hybrids. He expects demand based on “genuine consumer needs rather than subsidies” to grow as prices come down. That lines up with the CDK study we covered in July, in which 94% of EV owners said they won’t go back to gas. 83% of new cars still have an engine “Gas cars under 50%” is accurate, but you have to read the label. The 49% covers cars that run on gasoline and nothing else. Hybrids are counted separately, and they outsold battery-electric vehicles in the first half, 7.27 million to 6.87 million. A hybrid is a gas car that uses less gas. Diesels and plug-in hybrids sit in the other 16%. Only the 17% that’s battery-electric burns no fuel at all. So about 83% of the new vehicles sold in the world this year still came with an engine. It’s also a six-month number, taken in the middle of an oil shock. We’ll see if the full year stays under 50%, but the trend may be accelerating. The US isn’t going back to gas either The Mobility Global data got passed around a lot over the weekend, often with a note that the US is the exception and that gas cars are regaining ground here since the federal tax credit ended. EV sales did take a hit. Cox Automotive expects about 239,000 new EV sales in the third quarter, roughly 6% of the market and down about 45% from the 437,000 sold a year ago, when buyers rushed to beat the September 30 deadline. Just last week, Ford reported that its EV sales fell 80% in the quarter. But those buyers didn’t go back to gas-only cars. Here’s Cox’s US powertrain mix for the second quarter: PowertrainQ2 2025Q2 2026Gas and diesel (ICE)77.6%76.8%Hybrid13.0%16.3%Battery-electric7.4%5.8%Plug-in hybrid2.0%1.1% Hybrid volume was up 23%, and 16.3% is a record. The ICE share went down, not up. Electrified vehicles as a whole went from 22.4% to 23.2% of the market. Cox also has gasoline back around $4.50 a gallon, up 41% from a year ago. Electrek’s Take This is a real milestone, and I don’t want to undersell it. Gas-only cars went from 73% to 49% of the market in less than five years, and nothing in the data suggests they’re getting that share back. The last time gasoline wasn’t on top was the early 1900s, when steam and electric cars outsold it in the US. I hate seeing media headlines claiming that “EV sales are down” and that “EV growth has stalled.” The data is clear: that’s true in the US, but only in the US. The rest of the world is moving to electric vehicles, and it is not slowing down. 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