The global passenger car market has stabilised after a slight slump during the coronavirus years. Current sales figures for new cars of all drive types are just under 80 million vehicles (around one percent more than in 2024).

The market for electric vehicles, especially battery electric vehicles (BEVs), is growing significantly faster. From a little over 10.3 million BEVs in 2024, sales figures grew by over 20 percent to 12.7 million vehicles in 2025. This represents an increase of more than five percentage points compared to the previous year.

Sales of plug-in hybrid vehicles (PHEVs) did not continue to develop as positively after a boom two years ago (+60 percent), triggered in particular by the emerging of extended range electric vehicles (EREVs) in China. Nevertheless, the market grew slightly by eight percent from 2024 to 2025, from 5.8 to 6.3 million vehicles.

The statistics for electric vehicles (EV) evaluated here are limited to passenger cars (including vans and pick-ups). They include BEV and PHEV models. There is some uncertainty because delivery vans are classified as commercial vehicles or vans depending on the source. In addition, not all global sales figures for December 2025 were available at the time of publication and had to be estimated. This explains the slight differences in sales figures depending on the report. For this reason, only rounded figures are used in this article. In addition to the passenger car sector, there are increasing numbers of electrified commercial vehicles, especially buses, which are not considered here.

Regional developments in the sales markets for electric vehicles in 2025

For the first time since the coronavirus pandemic, the total vehicle market in China shrank in 2025 compared to the previous year (-1 percent). EVs, on the other hand, showed a different trend. Registrations for BEVs rose to around eight million vehicles (+23 percent). In addition, there were approximately five million PHEV vehicles (+1 percent). This means that more than 50 percent of newly registered vehicles in China were electrified. China thus continues to set standards in the field of e-mobility and is consolidating its position as the leading market.

Europe's EV market (EU27+3) is recovering after a poor year in 2024, when the market declined slightly. In 2025, around 28 percent more BEVs and PHEVs were registered compared to the previous year. A total of around 2.5 million BEVs (+26 percent) and just over one million PHEVs (+33 percent) were put on the road. This means that EVs account for around 27 percent of new car sales. As is known, there are significant differences between countries. In Norway, Denmark and the Netherlands, registrations are well above average. However, Eastern European countries such as Poland, Slovenia and Slovakia have recently seen particularly high growth rates.

Following the expiry of tax relief under the Inflation Reduction Act in the USA, registration figures for electric vehicles in North America are declining. However, due to higher figures shortly before the incentives expired, annual sales figures for BEVs were only slightly below the previous year's figures (approx. 1.4 million vehicles). It remains to be seen whether the electrification rate of around seven percent can be maintained next year. The PHEV market grew by around seven percent to 350,000 vehicles from a low starting level.

Chinese manufacturers pull ahead

Chinese manufacturers are benefiting particularly from the national and global growth of electromobility. While the market leader BYD is weakening and experiencing declining growth dynamics, numerous other young manufacturers were able to achieve significant market growth in 2025. For example, Xiaomi (+190 percent), XPeng (+120 percent) and Leapmotor (+100 percent) were able to increase their sales figures enormously in 2025.

Overall, Chinese manufacturers will not be able to repeat the growth rates for EVs of more than 50 percent seen in 2024. However, despite high absolute figures, they will continue to grow faster than European or American manufacturers, with an increase of around 21 percent. Chinese manufacturers sold a total of more than seven million BEVs (+33 percent) and just under five million PHEVs (+6 percent). This means that more than 60 percent of the vehicles produced by Chinese manufacturers are now electric. The trend towards fully electric vehicles is also clearly evident.

The most important sales market for Chinese vehicle manufacturers is the domestic market. Nevertheless, exports increased significantly in 2025. In addition, the first factories of Chinese companies outside China recently went into operation, some of them as joint ventures. The most important export markets are South America and Europe. Despite punitive tariffs, BEV sales figures for Chinese manufacturers in Europe grew by more than 60 percent to around 230,000 vehicles. Growth was even more extreme for PHEVs. From around 27,000 vehicles in 2024, the number of vehicles from China sold in Europe rose to around 160,000. The North American market, on the other hand, collapsed almost completely. Only a few thousand Chinese electric vehicles were sold here in 2025.

While European manufacturers breathe a sigh of relief, sales figures for American manufacturers are falling

After declining sales figures in 2024, European manufacturers were able to sell more vehicles again in the following year, both globally and especially in Europe. Worldwide, a total of two million BEVs (+16 percent) and one million PHEVs (+19 percent) from European manufacturers were sold. Compared to Chinese manufacturers, the EV quota for European carmakers is significantly lower, at 17 percent overall. Twelve percent are purely battery-powered vehicles.

Intra-European sales grew to 75 percent for BEVs and over 80 percent for PHEVs. This is due to declining sales figures in China, where sales of BEVs (-40 percent) and PHEVs (-20 percent) from Europe slumped sharply to 232,000 and 44,000 vehicles respectively. In North America, on the other hand, more vehicles were sold in 2025 than in the previous year.

The VW Group is particularly responsible for the European upturn, achieving strong growth figures for BEVs (+32 per cent) and especially PHEVs (+58 per cent). Looking specifically at Europe, BEV growth was even higher at more than 60 percent. Other manufacturers, such as the BMW Group, also saw a slight increase in EV sales (+8 percent). As in 2024, Mercedes, including Smart, saw a decline in BEV sales (-4 percent) but a slight increase in PHEV sales (+9 percent). Stellantis showed a slightly positive development.

The momentum and electrification rate of North American manufacturers is strongly influenced by Tesla. As the company recorded a slight decline in vehicle deliveries (-4 percent), it significantly reinforced the downward trend in figures for North American car manufacturers as a whole. Other major manufacturers such as Ford and GM also struggled with market dynamics. North American manufacturers produced around two million BEVs and 260,000 PHEVs. Of these, around 320,000 BEVs and 65,000 PHEVs were sold in Europe. For BEVs, this represents a renewed and even stronger decline compared to 2024 (-14 percent). Here, too, weak sales figures from Tesla were the main cause. PHEV sales, on the other hand, grew by 18 percent. The BEV share of North American manufacturers is 19 percent, marking the first decline (-1 percent). The PHEV market accounts for around 2 percent of new registrations.

Global increase in electric vehicles

Globally, BEVs and PHEVs accounted for around 24 percent of total passenger car registrations in 2025. The market for battery electric vehicles grew even more strongly than in the previous year (23 percent growth compared to 17 percent in the previous year). Although the global market remains strongly linked to the momentum in China, the market in Europe is developing even more dynamically and is actually outpacing Chinese growth. Only North America is losing ground.

The data used comes from the research project BEMA On (funding 03XP0621A) funded by the Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space.