Which countries are powering the world’s new EV market?
20 May 2026
Which countries saw electric vehicle (EV) sales surge in the first quarter of 2026, and where did they decline? How did this impact the brands selling plug-in models? Autovista24 editor Tom Geggus explores the latest data from EV Volumes.
Globally, deliveries of new EVs fell by 7.6% year on year in the first quarter of 2026. Combined sales of battery-electric vehicles (BEVs) and plug-in hybrids (PHEVs) struggled in January, suffered in February, and stagnated in March.
Of the 3,894,666 EVs delivered, 69.3% were fully electric, up 4.2 percentage points (pp) from the first quarter of 2025. This reflected the global BEV market’s higher volume of 2,697,413 units and a more marginal drop of 1.6%.
China and the US remained the world’s biggest and second-biggest BEV markets, respectively. However, both recorded double-digit year-on-year declines. China suffered a 23.6% fall, resulting in 361,855 fewer sales. This eclipsed the US, where 202,509 BEVs were delivered, down 25.7%.
The importance of China to the global BEV and PHEV markets is well established. Accounting for 43.5% of all-electric deliveries worldwide, it was far ahead of the US, which made up 7.5%. Then came Germany with 5.9%, the UK with 5.1% and France with 4.3%.
However, the size of the Chinese BEV market means any poor result has a large knock-on effect. Following a 20.4% delivery decline in January and a 39.2% drop in February, March’s 15.6% slide was something of a relief.
While the US followed a similar pattern of easing decline into March, Germany, the UK and France recorded accelerating growth. But with their comparatively smaller volumes, this did little to ease the global BEV market’s descent.
A similar sales trend
The same trend repeated itself in the global PHEV market to an even greater extent. PHEV sales fell by 18.7% to 1,197,253 units. The effect of struggling sales in China was even more apparent as the country accounted for 52.9% of all deliveries.
China saw PHEV sales drop by 36.4% year on year. Meanwhile, other leading markets, including the UK, Germany, and Italy, recorded growth. However, these three countries made up 6.7%, 6.3% and 3.4% of all PHEV sales, respectively.
This meant the positive results in these markets paled in comparison to the negative results in China. Additionally, the US recorded a decline in sales, reaching 38,953 units and accounting for 3.3% of all PHEV volumes.
Brands topping sales charts
BYD led the global EV market across the first quarter of 2026. However, its position of dominance appeared to be slipping, as its sales fell by 33.7% to 562,597 units. This meant its EV market share slipped by 5.7pp to 14.4%.
The brand’s performance in China drove this decline, where its sales fell by 56.2%. More than half of all BYD’s new EVs were sold domestically. This was far ahead of its second-biggest market, Brazil, with 6.7% share.
However, BYD has been making a concerted effort to export more models, decreasing the dependence on its domestic performance. This was reflected regionally, with China responsible for 82.1% of its EV sales in the first quarter of 2025. Meanwhile, export markets including Brazil, the UK, Australia and Thailand made up more of the brand’s figures.
PHEV sales struggle
With a large lineup spread across different powertrains, BYD offered a wide range of choices to buyers in different markets. The brand led the best-selling PHEV table in the first quarter with the BYD Song Pro. It sold 43,869 units and represented 3.7% of all plug-in hybrids delivered.
The carmaker placed three other models in the top 10. This included the BYD Song Plus, also known as the Seal U in some markets, in third with 41,446 units sold.
The Qin Plus and the Seal 6 were slightly further behind in sixth and seventh, respectively. All these top-performing BYD PHEVs saw sales shrink in the first quarter, with declines steeper than 30%.
The remaining six spots in the PHEV top 10 were taken by Chinese models. The Fang Cheng Bao Tai 7 came second, close behind the BYD Song Pro in first. Battling it out in fourth and fifth, the Jaecoo J7 and Aito M7 were further behind the top three.
The Zeekr 9X came eighth, followed by the Li Auto L6 in ninth. The Galaxy Starship 7, also known as the Starray, rounded out the top 10.
BEVs do a bit better
While BYD’s top PHEVs did see declines, its leading BEVs only did slightly better in the first quarter. The BYD Seagull, also known as the Dolphin Surf, took fourth in the best-selling BEV table. Its 66,512 deliveries were down 27.2%, capturing 2.5% of the market.
The BYD Yuan Up, also known as the Atto 2, took seventh with a 1.9% share. This was thanks to 50,196 sales, down 14.9% year on year. However, the BYD Dolphin was close behind in eighth with a 1.8% share and 48,814 sales. This was up 31.7% compared with the first quarter of 2025.
While the top 10 table was not short on Chinese models, Tesla took the top two. The Tesla Model Y came first with 240,400 sales, up 19.2%, taking an 8.9% market share.
Unlike BYD, Tesla has a far smaller product range. The Model Y made up 67.2% of its sales, underscoring its central importance to the brand. This was up from 60% in the first quarter of 2025.
The world’s second-most popular BEV was the Tesla Model 3. It recorded less than half the volume of its SUV crossover sibling at 101,405 units. However, this was down by 16.8% year on year while it made up 28.3% of all Tesla’s sales, down 7.9pp.
Tesla’s South Korean boost
Like BYD, Tesla saw its sales fall in China with volumes down by 16.3% to 112,910 units. However, Tesla only sells BEV models, which meant less exposure to China’s struggling PHEV market.
In total, 31.6% of Tesla models were sold in China during the first quarter, down from 40.1% a year prior. With a more even sales spread, the brand saw 29.4% of its BEVs delivered in the US, down only 3.6pp as sales fell by 5.3% to 105,050 units.
However, Tesla did see a 335.1% increase in sales in South Korea, with 20,964 units delivered. This meant 5.9% of all its models were sold in the country during the quarter, up 4.4pp year on year.
While it did capture the top two in the global BEV rankings, Tesla is also up against stiff competition. The Xiaomi YU7 took third in the first quarter, with 71,942 sales and a 2.7% market share.
The Geely Geome Xingyuan, also known as the EX2, took fifth, followed by the Li Auto I6 in sixth. The Nio ES8, also known as the EL8, claimed ninth, followed by the Toyota bZ4x in 10th.
Leading global brands
For some brands, these high-performing models helped position them as leading EV brands. Li Auto was boosted by the performance of its I6 and L6 models, which accounted for 78.9% of its plug-in sales. In total, it sold 96,406 EVs in the first quarter, putting it sixth in the brand table.
With one of its BEVs present in the model top 10, Toyota came seventh in the brands table. Its EV sales increased by 46.5% to 89,958 units in the first quarter. Xiaomi also placed a model in the BEV top 10, as it came ninth in the brand ranking. The carmaker reached 82,073 sales between January and March.
Not all the world’s biggest EV sellers made the top 10 BEV or PHEV tables, however. BMW took fourth with 110,103 sales, and Leapmotor fifth with 103,436 units. Kia came eighth with 85,086 models moved. Then in 10th was Mercedes-Benz with 79,494 deliveries.
Ahead of all of them was Volkswagen (VW) in third. Its top-selling ID.4, ID.3 and ID.7 BEVs all recorded delivery declines of 32.9%, 30.4% and 18.9%, respectively. However, its plug-in hybrids picked up the pace. PHEV versions of the Golf, Tayron and Multivan all saw surging volumes.
Unlike BYD and Tesla, China was not VW’s leading market. Instead, it pushed the most EVs domestically, with 33.4% of its plug-in sales taking place in the country. Then came the UK at 12.1%. However, this was down from 12.4% as deliveries dipped. There was also European success in France and Italy.
Yet VW’s EV sales in China did decline by 62.9% year on year. The market accounted for 7.8% of its plug-in deliveries, down from 17.8%.
This highlights the weight of the Chinese market on global EV sales figures and the brands looking to move models. But as the region sees more carmakers exporting, other countries will see greater model diversity and increased competition.
