EV sales in China grow by 20 per cent
In December, 1.71 million new energy vehicles (NEVs) were sold, according to data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM). This represents a 7.2 per cent increase compared to December 2024, but a 6.2 per cent decline compared to November, the strongest month of 2025. Nevertheless, 2025 proved to be a strong year: NEV sales exceeded the previous year’s figures in every single month, and in the fourth quarter, each month surpassed the 1.6-million mark—a milestone not achieved in any month of 2024. In total, 16.49 million units were sold, representing a 28.2 per cent increase over 2024.
However, these figures provide only limited insight into the market development within China itself. The CAAM statistics reflect so-called wholesale sales, which include all vehicles manufactured in China—both for the domestic market and for export to other regions. New energy vehicles encompass battery-electric cars (BEVs), plug-in hybrids (PHEVs), including range-extender vehicles, and fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs). The latter models play a comparatively minor role in China, with the market dominated by BEVs and PHEVs.
In December, 1.11 million of the 1.71 million NEVs sold were battery-electric vehicles—again, these are wholesale figures. This marks a 5.3 per cent decrease compared to November but a 13.8 per cent increase over the same month last year. As in the overall market, BEV sales significantly exceeded the 2024 results every month. For plug-in hybrids, growth compared to the previous year had been minimal for months, but it was still growth. In December, however, PHEV sales fell to 599,000 units, a 3.7 per cent decline year-on-year. According to an analysis of CAAM data by the portal “CN EV Post,” this is the first time in at least five years that PHEV sales have decreased compared to the previous year. For battery-electric cars, the last decline occurred in February 2024.
Overall, however, December was a weak month for the automotive sector. Across all drive types, wholesale sales fell to 3.27 million vehicles, 4.6 per cent less than in November and 6.2 per cent below December 2024. In December, the NEV share thus stood at 52.3 per cent, which is above the 45.7 per cent recorded in the same month last year but below the 53.2 per cent from November. For the entire year, NEVs accounted for 47.9 per cent of all vehicle sales.
NEV exports have grown significantly: as in November, around 300,000 (partially) electric vehicles were exported from China, representing a 120 per cent increase over the previous year. This also means that of the 1.71 million NEVs in the CAAM statistics, 1.41 million remained in China. Thus, December’s domestic sales figure was 7.4 per cent below the strong November result and even 3.6 per cent below December 2024.
On an annual basis, Chinese NEV sales in the domestic market amounted to 13.88 million vehicles, a 19.8 per cent increase. In this statistic, which covers vehicles that actually remained in China, CAAM no longer distinguishes between individual drive types.
However, such a distinction is made for exports: in 2025, 2.62 million new energy vehicles manufactured in China were exported to other markets, a 100 per cent increase. Of these, 1.65 million vehicles were battery-electric, a 66.7 per cent rise. Plug-in hybrids accounted for 969,000 units of all exports, a 230 per cent increase over the previous year. The statistics do not reveal the destinations of these plug-in hybrids. However, many are likely to have been shipped to Europe: in the EU, additional tariffs are (currently) imposed on the import of electric cars from China, whereas plug-in hybrids are exempt.
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