Which plug-in hybrid should you choose in Belgium in 2026?

Which plug-in hybrid costs the least as a company car?

Three of them, in a dead heat.

The Škoda Superb Combi, the Peugeot 3008 and the BYD Seal U DM-i cost €47,505, €45,400 and €37,900 on the Belgian catalogue recorded on 26 September 2026. Their drivers nevertheless declare exactly the same benefit in kind, €1,690 a year, because all three fall below the point where the calculation reaches the legal minimum set for 2026 income. The purchase price, which separates these cars by €9,605, leaves no trace on the payslip.

They are therefore separated on electric range: up to 120 km for the Škoda, 93 to 97 km for the Peugeot, 80 km for the BYD. That figure decides how many home-to-work trips are covered without a drop of petrol.

Above the floor, the order follows price. Hyundai Tucson €1,738.25, Škoda Kodiaq €1,780.97, BMW X1 €1,854.86, Toyota RAV4 €1,910.06, Volvo XC60 €2,296.80. Between the first and the last, €606.80 a year, which is €50.57 more every month in the driver’s taxable base.

How is the benefit in kind of a plug-in hybrid calculated in 2026?

List value, times 4 %, times six sevenths. With a minimum of €1,690 a year.

The general benefit-in-kind formula starts from a rate of 5.5 %, adjusted by 0.1 point for every gram of CO2 above or below a reference emission that the Federal Public Service Finance set for 2026 at 70 g/km for petrol and 58 g/km for diesel. The rate never drops below 4 % and never exceeds 18 %. A genuine plug-in hybrid is treated like an electric car: 4 % automatically, whatever its exact CO2. The list value is the price including VAT and options, before any discount, and an age coefficient reduces it by 6 % a year after the first year, down to 70 % beyond five years.

The figure to remember follows directly: €49,291.67. Below that list value, 4 % of six sevenths of the price comes to less than €1,690, and the minimum applies. Above it, every €1,000 of options adds €34.29 of annual benefit in kind.

The practical consequence is rarely explained at the dealership. On a Škoda Superb Combi at €47,505, the next €1,786.67 of options do not add a cent to the benefit in kind. On the Peugeot 3008 the margin reaches €3,891.67, and on the BYD Seal U €11,391.67, enough to tick almost the whole options list.

The €1,690 minimum represents €140.83 a month added to taxable salary. The benefit in kind is not an amount to pay: it is a base on which payroll tax is withheld, and its effect on take-home pay depends on the driver’s marginal rate.

Three of the eight are genuine hybrids only thanks to the 75 g threshold

The Peugeot 3008, the Hyundai Tucson and the BMW X1 show 54 to 63 g of CO2.

Belgian tax law classes as a "fake" hybrid any car whose battery offers less than 0.5 kWh per 100 kg of mass, or whose CO2 exceeds 50 g/km. Since 1 January 2025, plug-in hybrids have been approved under the Euro 6e-bis standard, which measures their emissions more realistically, and their stated CO2 jumped in one go. Lawmakers therefore raised the threshold to 75 g/km for these approvals, and circular 2026/C/10 from the tax administration sets out how it applies to the benefit in kind.

Without that change, these three versions would fall into the fake-hybrid regime. The benefit in kind would then be calculated on the CO2 of the corresponding combustion model or, where no equivalent model exists, on the hybrid’s CO2 multiplied by 2.5. For the Tucson at 62 g, that second calculation would give 155 g, a rate of 14 % and €6,083.88 of benefit in kind a year, three and a half times the current figure.

The second test, the battery one, is no problem for any of the eight. Even the Tucson, with the smallest battery at 13.8 kWh, stays above the threshold as long as its mass does not exceed 2,760 kg.

One reflex before signing: read the CO2 on the certificate of conformity for the exact version, wheels and trim included, because that document, not the brochure, sets the tax regime.

Is a plug-in hybrid company car still deductible in 2026?

For a company that orders one in 2026, no.

The law of 25 November 2021 on greening mobility for tax and social purposes scheduled the end of deductibility for cars that emit CO2, plug-in hybrids included. A car ordered between 1 July 2023 and 31 December 2025 is deductible at 75 % in 2025, 50 % in 2026, 25 % in 2027, then not at all in 2028. Ordered from 1 January 2026, it is no longer deductible for corporate tax, whereas an electric car ordered the same year still is, at 100 %.

Self-employed people taxed under personal income tax escape that cut. The government restored a gentler schedule for them, which the European Commission judged incompatible with keeping it for companies: 75 % deductibility until the end of 2027, then a declining rate.

The 2026 paradox fits in one sentence: the employer no longer deducts anything, the driver still pays the minimum. For a car policy, a plug-in hybrid now costs more than an electric car; for the driver who receives one, it costs no more.

The benefit in kind is federal, registration taxes are regional

The benefit in kind is calculated the same way in Arlon, Ixelles and Ghent: it falls under federal personal income tax, and this ranking holds identically in all three Regions. What changes from one Region to another are the taxes attached to registration, and they treat the plug-in hybrid in three opposite ways.

In Flanders, the registration tax rests on CO2, the Euro standard and the fuel, so a low approved CO2, like the 23 g of the Volvo XC60, weighs little. In Brussels, only power counts, in fiscal horsepower or in kilowatts, whichever is higher, and CO2 plays no part. In Wallonia, the formula in force since 1 July 2025 crosses power, CO2, maximum authorised mass and fuel, which penalises both heavy batteries and powerful engines.

For a company car, these taxes are paid by the registration holder, usually the company or the leasing firm. For a private buyer of one of these eight cars, the calculation has to be redone with the simulator of the buyer’s Region, certificate of conformity in hand.

Should you pick the longest range or the lowest price?

The longest range below the floor.

The €1,690 floor applies up to a list value of €49,291.67. In that zone, the Škoda Superb Combi offers the longest range, up to 120 km, for the same benefit in kind as the Peugeot 3008 and the BYD Seal U. Beyond it, every extra kilometre of range has a price: the Volvo XC60 adds about 80 km to the Superb for €606.80 more a year, which is €7.59 per kilometre of range per year. The Toyota RAV4 is the compromise, with up to 130 km claimed for €220.06 a year more than the Škoda.

Our recommendation: the Škoda Superb Combi 1.5 TSI PHEV for a company-car driver who charges every day, and the Toyota RAV4 PHEV as the alternative for anyone who wants an SUV and drives more than 100 km a day. The mistake to avoid: signing for a plug-in hybrid whose approved CO2 is close to 75 g without reading the certificate of conformity.

The list prices come from the Belgian catalogue of Moniteur Automobile (JATO data), recorded on 26 September 2026 and cross-checked against the brands’ Belgian websites. Ranges, batteries and emissions come from the manufacturers’ Belgian websites and press kits. The benefit-in-kind rules come from the Federal Public Service Finance (reference emissions and minimum for 2026 income), the fake-hybrid threshold from circular 2026/C/10, and the deductibility regime from the law of 25 November 2021 as amended at the end of 2025. None of these eight models has been road-tested in house.