The European Union's new-car market has just crossed a historic threshold: for the first time, sales of electric vehicles have overtaken gasoline and diesel combined. Croatia, however, is watching that milestone go by from the back of the grid. Data from the international energy organisation Ember, which analysed car sales across global markets, shows the Adriatic country significantly lagging behind its EU peers on electric car purchases — even as the bloc as a whole flips to battery power.

Yet the Croatian story is anything but standstill. Electric vehicle sales rocketed by 244% compared with a year earlier — a growth rate most mature markets can only dream about — while sales of gasoline and diesel cars fell by 19%. The catch is the starting point: even after that spectacular surge, battery-electric models account for just 4.2% of Croatia's new-vehicle market, keeping the country anchored near the rear of the EU field.

The broader market adds context. Croatia's new-car registrations grew by a solid 4% — respectable, but well behind the region's pacesetters, with Slovenia surging nearly 19%, Hungary gaining 13% and Portugal adding 10%. The sales charts, meanwhile, reveal a market with firmly traditional tastes: Škoda is Croatia's best-selling brand — a distinction it shares with Slovakia — with Volkswagen battling the Czech marque for the leading positions, and the models moving fastest off Croatian forecourts are, overwhelmingly, the ones with engines.

For dealers, importers and fleet buyers, the pattern is a textbook low-base boom — and a quiet warning. Triple-digit growth from a 4.2% share still leaves Croatia far behind the EU's electrification curve, but the direction of travel is unmistakable: combustion sales are already eroding, down nearly a fifth, even in a market where plug-in cars barely register. The 244% surge proves the demand is there; the 4.2% share proves it has barely begun to be tapped. The question for the Croatian trade is no longer whether electrification arrives, but how fast the gap closes.

Whether Croatian drivers ride the electric wave early or extract maximum value from combustion while the market shifts, choice remains the buyer's strongest card. Readers looking for a vehicle — electric, petrol or diesel — can find sensational cars at sensational conditions at WorldTrader24, Europe's marketplace with over 70,000 vehicles.