Which brand sold the most EVs in 2025?
11 February 2026
One carmaker continued to lead the global electric vehicle (EV) market in 2025. However, as competition heated up, its lead was eroded. Autovista24 editor Tom Geggus examines the plug-in market and its sellers with data from EV Volumes.
The global EV market, consisting of battery-electric vehicles (BEVs) and plug-in hybrids (PHEVs), continued to grow in 2025. In total, 20,914,871 new plug-in units hit roads across the world. This equated to a year-on-year increase of 20.9%.
While positive at first glance, this growth rate reflects a slowing market trend. Since recording triple-digit growth in 2021, the new EV market has seen its pace of expansion slow consistently.
However, one thing which has not been consistent is which powertrain has driven this trend. In 2020, 2023 and 2024, PHEV sales, including extended-range electric vehicles (EREVs), enjoyed higher year-on-year growth than BEVs.
This was more pronounced in 2020 and 2024, with at least 40 percentage points (pp) separating PHEV and BEV improvements. This was not true in 2021, 2022 and 2025 when all-electric car sales grew faster, but the disparity was smaller.
Yet, one thing did remain consistent across the global EV market, and that was the dominance of BEVs. Since 2020, all-electric cars made up at least 62.5% of all EV sales globally, as they recorded larger volumes. But which brand led the global plug-in market last year?
BYD leads EV brand table
In 2025, BYD led the global EV market with 3,967,070 plug-in sales, recording growth of 3.1%. This equated to a market share of 19%, far ahead of the Chinese brand’s next closest competitor. However, with increased competition, BYD saw its share of the global EV market fall by 3.2pp year on year.
BYD owed much of this success to its domestic performance, where its PHEVs sold in greater volumes than its BEVs. However, this imbalance levelled out on a global level, where all-electric models made up 50.1% of its total EV sales.
The BYD Seagull, also known as the Dolphin Surf in select markets, was the brand’s best-selling EV in 2025. The BEV accounted for 10.3% of the carmaker’s plug-in volumes in the year.
It was closely followed by two PHEVs. The BYD Song Plus, also known as the Seal U, made up 8.3% of BYD’s EV sales. Meanwhile, the Qin Plus captured a 7.4% share. All three have been offered by the carmaker since at least January 2024.
This year, the carmaker can be expected to continue developing its presence globally. The brand is looking to offer 2,000 points of sale in Europe, according to Reuters. BYD wants to produce and source half its components from its Brazilian factory by the end of 2026.
This expansion will need to pay off as the carmaker’s EV sales fell consistently throughout the latter half of 2025. From July onwards, its monthly volumes dropped from between 2.6% and 28% year on year.
Tesla’s global tumble
Tesla took second place in the global brand ranking. It sold 1,635,753 units and accounted for 7.8% of global EV deliveries. However, both results equated to losses for the brand. Its deliveries were down 8.5% compared with 2024, while its EV market share sank 2.5pp.
This is still impressive given that the carmaker only sells BEVs while its competitors also offer PHEVs. Focusing on all-electric cars, Tesla made up 11.9% of global volumes. However, this was still down from 16.5% in 2024.
The Tesla Model Y accounted for nearly two-thirds of the brand’s volumes in 2025 at 66.4% with 1,085,521 units. With just under half of this share, the Model 3 made up 30.5% of the carmaker’s sales. The Cybertruck, Model X and Model S made minimal contributions towards Tesla’s sales, accounting for 1.5%, 1% and 0.6%, respectively.
Looking ahead, Tesla plans to make some major changes to its operations. Its top-selling model will see the launch of a more affordable, all-wheel drive powertrain, Business Insider reported. This also provides an opportunity for the carmaker to remove the ‘Standard’ edition naming convention.
Electrek reported that the Model S and Model X are being discontinued because the carmaker is pursuing autonomous technologies. The BEVs can be expected to be shelved by the end of the second quarter this year. This follows the brand’s new strategy to lean into artificial intelligence, autonomous technology and robotics.
Geely brand generates growth
Geely, including its Galaxy models, sold the third-largest volume of EVs in 2025. In total, it moved 1,196,394 units, equating to a 160.9% year-on-year increase. This was the highest rate of growth recorded in the brand top 10.
Last year’s improvement was also up on the 120.1% rise recorded in 2024. This recent growth elevated Geely’s market share to 5.7% in 2025, up from 2.7% in 2024.
Three BEVs topped the brand’s model offering in terms of volume. The Geely Geome Xingyuan, also known as the EX2, accounted for 39.6% of the brand’s EV sales last year. It was followed by the Panda Mini with a 13.6% share. The carmaker’s third most popular model was the E5, also known as the EX5, with an 11.5% hold.
Looking ahead, Geely wants its global vehicle sales to reach 6.5 million units by 2030. More than one-third of this figure is expected to be generated by overseas sales. The overall goal is to be among the top five biggest carmakers during a time of increasing competition.
Brand table titans
Below the top three seven-digit sales performers sat a range of brands, many boasting their own EV delivery growth. With increasing competition in the global EV market, only a handful of top-table listed carmakers saw EV sales declines.
Wuling, including Baojun models, took fourth with 912,260 vehicles hitting the roads. This was up by 32.5% compared with 2024, while its market share climbed by 0.4pp to 4.4%. 93.8% of the carmaker’s EV sales came from BEVs, with the Wuling Mini recording 431,779 deliveries alone.
Then came Leapmotor, with an impressive 97.6% sales increase to 569,629 units. This gave it a 2.7% share, up 1pp. The C10 BEV led its efforts, recording 118,354 deliveries in the year. While lower than its BEV performance, the carmaker recorded 107,803 EREV sales across 2025, including the C16, C10, C11 and C01.
The first legacy European brand came in sixth. Volkswagen saw its EV sales climb by 25.1% to 568,032 units. This gave it a market share of 2.7%, up by just 0.1pp. BMW was not too far behind, although its EV deliveries dropped by 0.4% to 535,910 units. This saw its share drop by 0.5pp to 2.6%.
With EV deliveries increasing by 17.1%, Aito moved 453,037 units, making up 2.2% of the plug-in market in eighth. This was static on its 2024 performance.
Xpeng recorded 427,309 sales, up 126.4% year on year. This meant a 0.9pp boost to its EV market share, which hit 2%. The third decline in the table came in 10th, as Li Auto’s EV sales fell by 19.3% to 424,987 units. Accordingly, its share fell by 1pp to 2%.
