Electric cars: China slows down while Europe takes the lead
The electric car industry is shifting globally, with the market’s focus moving elsewhere. In October, Europe saw a 36% surge in sales, while China experienced its first slowdown after months of growth.
Globally, 2.09 million electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles (BEV and PHEV) were sold, representing an 8% increase from October 2025. Another notable figure is China’s exports of new energy passenger vehicles, which reached 582,000 units, surpassing even the record set in September.
In short, the electric car race is taking place on more fronts: Europe is accelerating, China is focusing on exports, and many markets outside China are growing again.
Global electric car sales reach 2.09 million
The cumulative total for the first ten months of 2026 reaches 17.5 million vehicles, up from the same period in 2025 according to Benchmark estimates. Monthly sales in September hit 2.15 million. October thus shows a slight decline, but this does not change the overall trend.
Beneath this aggregated figure, different geographic regions exhibit varying trends. Europe continues to accelerate and offsets some of the slowdown in China. The rest of the world, outside China, Europe, and North America, shows double-digit growth that increasingly impacts the overall total.
A direct comparison with the performance since the beginning of the year helps measure the impact of different regions on the global total: this can be seen by those who review the data on global electric vehicle sales in 2026.
Q1 2026 ends with accelerated BEV sales and positive signs in key European countries
Photo by: TheICCT
Europe: Electric vehicle sales up 36%
In Europe, electric vehicle registrations reached 510,000 units in October, 36% higher than a year earlier. The cumulative total for the first ten months is 4.5 million, 31% above the same period in 2025. This is a growth rate the European market has not seen in a long time.
Within that 36% figure, however, there are two very different growth rates. Fully electric vehicles saw an annual increase of 49%, driving the overall result almost on their own. Plug-in hybrids rose by only 7%, a rate that confirms that European growth is primarily driven by pure BEVs—battery-powered cars without internal combustion engines.
Comparison with the previous quarter shows that this autumnal acceleration is not an isolated event but a continuation of a trend that has been ongoing for months, illustrating how the European electric vehicle market has been performing since the beginning of 2026.
Why Chinese exports affect the global results
China’s export record is no minor detail. As the domestic market grows more slowly, Chinese manufacturers are shifting an increasing volume of production overseas, including to Europe. This is one of the reasons why Chinese models continue to flood the European market, as evidenced by European sales trends in the summer months of 2026.
October’s outlook shows a global market that continues to grow, but with a different balance compared to a year ago. Alongside Europe and China’s export capacity, new markets that are adopting electric vehicles for the first time are also playing an increasingly important role.
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