Recent electric vehicle sales data has revealed that global demand for EVs kept growing in August, though the pace has clearly slowed compared to earlier in the year. Benchmark Mineral Intelligence reports that 1,830,000 units were sold worldwide, up 2% from a year earlier.
This brings the year-to-date total to 13,400,000 units, a 4% gain over the same stretch in 2025. BMI’s Charles Lester said the headline number masks a lot of regional divergence, since North America’s sales kept sliding further into negative territory even as Europe posted strong double-digit gains and China’s numbers looked healthier than earlier in the year.
North America was the main drag on the global figures, with sales shedding 33% year-on-year and the region now sitting 21% behind last year on a year-to-date basis. Lester pointed to the policy backdrop in the U.S. as the driver since this year’s figures are being measured against last August’s rush of buying activity, which came just prior to the lapse of the federal EV tax credit in late September 2025.
U.S. sales did tick up slightly compared with July, though hybrids soaked up much of the demand that EVs lost. Canada had its own soft spot too, where a program letting in lower-tariff EVs built in China wrapped up its opening six-month stretch on August 31st.
Only 15,603 of the 24,500 permits on offer had been handed out by then. That leftover balance, close to 8,900 permits, shifts into the next round, which kicks off September 1st and runs through February 2027 with over 33,000 permits on offer.
Europe went the opposite direction, posting 36% year-on-year gains in August that pushed its year-to-date rate up to 29%, versus 28% in late July. Sales slipped 15% compared with July, part of the seasonal dip the region typically sees each summer. Three countries drove most of the regional total: the UK, France, and Germany combined made up over half of Europe’s EV sales, likely thanks to newer, cheaper models reaching the market, climbing gas prices, and continued government incentives.
France stood out in particular, hitting a record penetration rate of 41% for the month. Spain, meanwhile, saw its new Auto+ incentive program complete a full first month on the books, having launched back on August 4th.
Year-on-year sales in China dropped 11% in August, a steeper decline than July’s 5% dip, though sales climbed 4% from the previous month, and the year-to-date figure stayed flat at a 12% decline. EVs held onto more than 60% of China’s passenger car market for a fourth month running, even as combustion-engine sales kept losing ground.
With domestic demand still soft, Chinese automakers pushed harder into export markets. New energy vehicle shipments abroad climbed more than 150% year-on-year, reaching a fresh monthly high near 518,000 units and lifting cumulative exports beyond the 3.3 million mark.
It would be interesting to view a breakdown of the data showing how different brands like Ferrari N.V. (NYSE: RACE) fare on a year by year basis in different markets.
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