Emerging markets represent an increasing share of global electric car sales
Outside the three major electric car markets – China, Europe and the United States – electric car sales increased steadily to reach 2 million in 2025, compared to 1.3 million sold the previous year. This nearly 50% growth can mainly be attributed to increasing sales in emerging markets and developing economies (EMDEs) other than China.
Electric car sales in these economies increased by around 80% in 2025, to reach almost 1.2 million, a record high. Rapid sales growth in these markets has mainly been driven by the increasing availability of lower‑cost electric car models, many of which are imported from China (accounting for 60% of sales in EMDEs other than China). Several markets doubled in size compared to 2024, with Southeast Asia demonstrating the largest absolute increase in sales. The share of BEVs in electric car sales (80%) is higher than in major markets (65%), but this is not a uniform trend across emerging markets. In Southeast Asia, more than 90% of electric car sales are for BEVs, but the opposite trend can be seen in other countries, such as Brazil (45%) and Uzbekistan (33%), where BEVs represent a minority share of electric car sales.
Electric car sales took off in Korea in 2025, in contrast to several other advanced economies
Electric car sales in Korea grew by around 65% year‑on‑year to reach more than 200 000 in 2025, after years of hovering around 130 000. As a result, the sales share of electric cars reached double digits (11%) for the first time. The government helped support sales earlier in 2025 by bringing forward the release of purchase guidelines compared with previous years. In addition, at the start of 2026, the government raised its zero-emission vehicle deployment target, aiming for electric and fuel cell electric vehicles to account for 50% of new car sales by 2030, providing a clearer signal for manufacturers to expand production capacity.
In Japan, despite subsidy support, electric car sales momentum remained weak for the second year in a row in 2025, with volumes similar to 2024 levels (just above 100 000). Electric cars accounted for less than 3% of sales, while conventional hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) accounted for around one-third of all car sales in 2025. This reflects the long-standing focus of Japanese automakers on hybrid technologies to reach fuel economy requirements. In addition, the high share of the population living in apartments with limited access to private parking, in combination with charging infrastructure constraints, are slowing sales.
In New Zealand, electric car sales stabilised in 2025 after a large drop in sales of 70% in 2024 after the removal of the Clean Car Discount. In Australia, electric car sales rose steadily in 2025, reaching around 15% of new car sales as a increasing share of PHEV sales supported growth.
In Canada, electric car sales in 2025 were more than 30% lower than in 2024, due in part to the ending of the iZEV rebate programme at the beginning of the year. This programme offered up to CAD 5 000 (Canadian dollars) (USD 3 500) for eligible BEVs, and CAD 2 500 (USD 1 750) for PHEVs. The sales share of electric cars decreased from nearly 17% in 2024 to 11% in 2025.
In Southeast Asia, electric car sales more than doubled in 2025
In 2025, Southeast Asia saw one of the world’s largest increases in electric car deployment, with sales more than doubling year-on-year to more than half a million. Across the region, electric cars represented close to one in five cars sold. However, trends were uneven: Viet Nam, Indonesia and Thailand led the EV sales growth in the region, supported by strong policy incentives, the expansion of domestic manufacturing and favourable trade conditions for imports, particularly from China. On the other hand, electric sales shares remained somewhat lower in Malaysia and the Philippines, despite growing rapidly.
Sales in Viet Nam more than doubled in 2025, promoting the country to Southeast Asia’s largest electric car market, with nearly 40% of new car sales being electric, above levels seen in most European countries. Policy support for electric car purchases has primarily been provided through registration fee exemptions for BEVs since 2022. The domestic EV maker VinFast has captured nearly the entire market, and its small affordable models have been key enablers of mass-market adoption. In 2025, the price-competitiveness of best-selling EV models VF3 and VF5 helped them outsell conventional rivals in similar size segments.
In 2025, electric car sales in Thailand increased by 70% from 2024 levels, reaching roughly 140 000, nearly one-quarter of total new car sales. As a result, the country represented the second-largest electric car market in the region. The EV3.5 scheme that came into force in January 2024 continued to boost adoption through purchase subsidies, excise tax breaks and import duty reliefs. In addition, the EV3.0 scheme drove an increase in Thai-made electric car sales, by requiring manufacturers to register their domestic electric car production before January 2026 in exchange for the import duty exemptions. Thai-made electric cars represented 20% of the market in 2025, up from about 5% the year before. Despite policy settings shifting to support domestic production, Chinese-made electric cars still represented three-quarters of the Thai market in 2025.
In Indonesia, electric car sales more than doubled in 2025, reaching 15% of new car sales. Key policy support measures were VAT and import duty exemptions for battery electric cars. In anticipation of the tariff exemption for battery electric car imports coming to an end in December 2025, manufacturers ramped up imports towards the end of the year, resulting in about half of 2025 sales taking place in the last quarter. About 75% of 2025 sales were imports from China, while the rest were cars produced domestically by Chinese carmakers (mostly by Wuling) – supported by a wide range of manufacturing incentives – and imports from neighbouring countries such as Viet Nam and Thailand. As industrial and trade policies shift the focus towards local production, the importance of imports in Indonesia’s electric car market is set to wane in 2026.
While electric car sales also doubled in Malaysia in 2025, uptake was lower than in other neighbouring markets, with the share of electric cars in new car sales standing at about 7%. Southeast Asia’s largest car market has been supporting electric car adoption primarily through excise tax and import duty exemptions, resulting in Chinese imports accounting for as much as 80% of the market in 2025. These exemptions ended at the end of 2025 but remain active for completely knockdown kit (CKD) imports until the end of 2027, to enable domestic assembly with cost-competitive imported parts6. Several domestic car makers, such as Proton and Perodua, have also started to add electric models to their line-ups. In 2025, Proton’s best-selling electric cars were the e.MAS 5 and e.MAS 7, which were among the most competitively priced electric models on the market, priced at only around 10% more than comparable conventional cars.
Electric car sales leapt up in the Philippines in 2025, reaching almost 10% of new car sales, up from a negligible level the year before. Similarly to other Southeast Asian countries, policy support in the Philippines takes the form of excise tax relief (introduced at the start of 2025) and import duty exemptions (introduced in 2024) for electric cars. As a reflection of this, Chinese imports, particularly from BYD, made up most of the country’s electric car sales in 2025. The importance of Chinese imports is set to continue in the near term, with the tariff exemption running until 2028.
Electric car sales in India remain modest but are starting to pick up
Despite being the second-largest car market in the Asia Pacific region, India’s electric car sales remained below levels seen in Viet Nam and Thailand. However, sales started to pick up in 2025, increasing 75% year-on-year to reach 165 000, representing nearly 4% of total car sales. Roughly 60% of electric car sales were produced in India by domestic automakers Tata and Mahindra. Mahindra introduced two new electric models in 2025, and saw electric car sales increase fivefold compared to 2024. Besides local automakers building up sales, more brands started to sell electric cars in India, with the number of electric models available increasing from 33 to 45 between 2024 and 2025.
Following the announcement by the Indian government in 2024 of the Scheme to Promote Manufacturing of Electric Passenger Cars in India (SPMEPCI), the final requirements were announced in June 2025. The SPMEPCI will allow selected automakers to import higher-priced CBUs at a minimum import value of USD 35 000 with a reduced import rate of 15%, compared with duties of up to 110% for non-eligible imports, for a period of five years. While several automakers expressed interest, decisions to participate were delayed in 2025, with companies citing uncertainty related to the ongoing European Union-India free trade agreement negotiations and Chinese restrictions on rare‑earth magnet exports, which raised concerns about meeting the scheme’s localisation requirements.
Brazil and Mexico were behind the 75% electric car sales growth observed in Latin America in 2025
Electric car sales growth accelerated across major markets in Latin America in 2025, to reach more than 350 000 cars – an increase of 75% compared to 2024. More than 75% of the region’s sales growth came from Brazil and Mexico, where PHEV sales, in particular, expanded rapidly. As a result, PHEVs represented close to 50% of electric car sales in Latin America in 2025, up from 40% the year before. Several smaller Latin American markets, such as Uruguay, Costa Rica and Colombia, also saw sales growth, mostly of battery electric cars, thanks to tax and import incentives.
Electric car sales in Brazil surged to 180 000, or 9% of all new car sales, up from 6.5% in 2024. Brazil is one of the few countries where more PHEVs are sold than BEVs; the share of PHEVs in EV sales has hovered between 60% and 50% over the past few years. Growth has been driven by reduced import tariffs for electric cars, which are being gradually reinstated. In 2025, just under 85% of all electric cars sold in Brazil were made in China, a slightly smaller share than in 2024. This can be attributed in part to the opening of a Great Wall Motors plant in Brazil, which produced just under 5% of electric cars sold in the country in 2025. In addition, BYD started operations of its new factory in Brazil in 2025. One of the models it will produce is the Song Pro, which is flex-fuel compatible, specifically tailored to the Brazilian market.
Electric car sales in Mexico tripled in 2025, with sales of plug-in hybrid electric cars increasing sevenfold. As a result, the share of electric car sales in total car sales topped 7% in 2025, up from around 2% in 2024. Imports from China increased significantly, with 85% of electric car sales in 2025 being imports from China, up from just over 60% in 2024, despite the reinstatement of import tariffs for electric cars in October 2024. BYD has announced plans for local production, but as of 2025 no large‑scale manufacturing had begun. Geely and BYD are currently among the bidders to take over a factory in the country from Nissan.
Aside from the major markets, many countries in Latin American and the Caribbean now have either import or purchase tax exemptions for EVs in place7. Uruguay has become one of the region’s front‑runners in switching to electric cars: Sales of electric cars more than doubled between 2024 and 2025, reaching 13 500 cars, or nearly 30% of total new car sales in the country. Uruguay’s market is strongly skewed toward BEVs rather than PHEVs, supported by government policies such as tax exemptions and subsidies. Furthermore, gasoline prices are much higher compared to other Latin American countries, further supporting the adoption of BEVs: in 2025 the average gasoline price was USD 2 per litre, 75% higher than in Brazil or Argentina.
Costa Rica reached an electric car sales share of 17% in 2025, up from 15% in 2024. Recent growth in Costa Rica has been partly due to tax exemptions for electric models, which are gradually being phased out between 2025 and 2035. Colombia also experienced a rapid increase in EV sales, supported by greater availability of cheaper Chinese models, tax exemptions, and sharply rising gasoline prices following the phase-out of fuel subsidies in 2023.
One of the only countries in Latin America with mandated fuel economy standards is Chile, through its Energy Efficiency Law which started to be implemented in 2024. As a result, the average fuel economy of new car sales has since improved by over 17% annually, largely due to electric car sales. Electric car sales quadrupled in Chile between 2023 and 2025, to represent roughly 4% of total car sales. In Argentina, electric car sales remained very limited, with fewer than 2 000 cars sold in 2025. However, the BEV segment expanded significantly, with sales more than doubling, thanks to the market launch of two new BYD models. In addition, in 2025 the city of Buenos Aires introduced incentives such as exemptions from licence plate fees and road tolls for electric and hybrid vehicles, applicable until mid‑2026, helping to gradually improve the attractiveness of electric mobility.
Eurasian and Middle East regions show continued growth
Electric car sales only began to pick up in the Eurasian region from 2023 onwards, rising from just a few hundred sales in 2022 to more than 60 000 in 2025. Uzbekistan accounted for nearly half of the region’s electric car sales in 2025, with electric cars reaching 8% of total car sales. Uzbekistan is also the main car assembler in the region and hosts an EV production plant owned by a joint venture between BYD and UzAuto Motors. Electric car sales also grew rapidly in Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. In 2025, these two countries represented more than 30% of electric car sales in the region. BYD accounted for around 80% of all electric cars sold in the region, including those supplied through the joint venture with UzAuto Motors. Nevertheless, around 95% of electric cars sold in the Caspian region in 2025 were produced in China.
Electric car sales in the Middle East reached around 75 000 in 2025, expanding by more than 40% year‑on‑year. The United Arab Emirates remained the region’s largest electric car market, accounting for almost 50% of sales, though its share of the regional market has declined from over 60% in 2023 as neighbouring markets have gained momentum. Sales have grown particularly quickly in Qatar and Saudi Arabia, which together now represent nearly 45% of regional demand. Market preferences have also shifted markedly in recent years. When electric car sales first began to scale in 2020, US‑manufactured Tesla models accounted for about half of all sales. Today, Tesla’s share has fallen to around 15%, while BYD – which entered the regional market in 2022 – has rapidly expanded to a 60% market share.
Adoption of new electric cars in Africa has been limited to a few countries to date
In the past two years, the electric car market in Africa increased from around 4 000 car sales in 2023 to about 25 000 in 2025, driven primarily by sales growing in Egypt (7 900), Morocco (5 500) and South Africa (3 800), which together accounted for nearly 70% of regional sales in 2025. However, Ethiopia, Mauritius, Rwanda and Nigeria have also seen progress in electric car uptake. In South Africa, electric car sales remained at less than 1% of new car sales in 2025, but PHEV sales saw a strong increase, resulting in PHEV sales accounting for more than 70% of total electric car sales.
The African car market is in large part reliant on used exports from car-producing countries such as Germany, Japan and the United States. It is estimated that around 60% of all annual additions to the car stock in Africa are imported used cars. Therefore, tracking new electric car registrations or sales may not accurately reflect adoption of EVs in Africa. Data on the electrification of used exported cars is limited and further complicated by exports of zero-mileage vehicles.
The number of new registrations or sales can also be difficult to track, as new sales and used imports are often not distinguished in country statistics. Estimates of sales for Ethiopia, in particular, vary widely. Cumulative retail sales of new electric cars between 2021 and 2025 amount to slightly over 2 000. However, the vehicle licensing authority reports a cumulative 15 000 electric cars sold between 2022 and 2024, and that approximately half of all new cars sold in 2024 were electric.
As in many other EMDEs, the share of electric car sales coming from Chinese automakers is increasing. In 2023, roughly 40% of electric car sales in Africa came from European automakers, while BYD held only a 4% market share. By 2025, BYD accounted for 35% of all electric cars sold in the region. There are, however, developments underway from domestic manufacturers, and Moroccan automaker Neo Motors started to sell its first electric model at the beginning of 2026.