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Europe’s EV sales soar as North America drops 44% – here’s the catch
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Europe's electric vehicle market set a new monthly record in September, with almost 600,000 EVs sold across the region, a 39% jump from a year earlier, according to data released by Benchmark Mineral Intelligence. The figure marked the continent's best month on record, beating the previous high set in June by 10%. The surge came as global EV sales reached 2.15 million units in September, up 17% from August but down 2% from September 2025.
Worldwide sales of battery electric vehicles (BEVs) and plug-in hybrids (PHEVs) totaled 15.5 million through September, a 3% increase over the same period last year. The regional breakdown, however, reveals a market in transition, with Europe accelerating while North America retreats and China cools.
In Europe, BEVs did most of the heavy lifting, with sales climbing 50% year over year, compared with 16% growth for PHEVs. The UK, France, Spain, Portugal and Finland all recorded their highest monthly EV sales ever. French sales rose 78% year over year to almost 80,000, while Germany's climbed 61% to 117,000. UK sales were more than 3.5 times August's total, although September's new registration plates give the entire British car market a seasonal boost, and EVs' share of UK sales stayed roughly flat at around 40%. Regional sales rose 62% month over month, reaching 3.9 million units through September, up 30% year over year.
North America moved in the opposite direction. September EV sales fell 44% year over year to around 130,000, the region's steepest percentage decline of 2026, and slipped 8% from August. The comparison is distorted, however, because September 2025 was the final month before the US federal $7,500 EV tax credit expired, prompting a buying rush. Through September, North American sales totaled 1.2 million, down 24% from a year earlier.
Benchmark's data manager, Charles Lester, cautioned against reading the decline as a sudden collapse in demand. "From the fourth quarter, the comparison will be against the months immediately after the credit's removal, when US EV sales collapsed, so the year-on-year picture should improve markedly," he said. Smaller declines later this year would therefore not necessarily mean sales have recovered, only that the comparison has become less stark.
China remains by far the largest EV market, with 1.11 million units sold in September — up 7% from August but down 18% year over year, deeper than August's 11% drop. Through September, Chinese sales reached 8.1 million, down 13%, with PHEVs accounting for much of the weakness at a 25% decline versus 6% for BEVs. Falling EV sales do not mean drivers are switching to gasoline cars: Chinese gas car sales fell 43% year over year to 534,000 units in September, according to the China Passenger Car Association.
Chinese automakers have kept production steady and pushed more vehicles abroad, with new energy vehicle passenger car exports hitting a monthly record of 558,000 in September. Two policy changes could complicate that strategy next year. An EU–China agreement still subject to member-state approval would cap imports of Chinese-built BEVs and PHEVs at 350,000 in 2027, rising 6% annually after the first year of the four-year arrangement. China will also cut its export VAT rebate for new energy vehicles from 13% to 9% on April 1, 2027.
Outside the three major markets, September EV sales rose 81% year over year to around 310,000. Those markets have bought 2.3 million EVs so far this year, up 93%, underscoring how the industry's growth is shifting toward Europe and emerging regions.
