Benchmark Mineral Intelligence counted 2.09 million electric-vehicle sales worldwide in October, an 8% annual increase as European and North American gains offset China’s decline in the global market.
The monthly figure was 3% below the record set in September. Across January through October, sales reached 17.5 million, 5% more than in the same stretch of 2025. Benchmark’s tally covers battery-electric and plug-in hybrid passenger cars and light-duty vehicles.
Europe recorded 510,000 sales, 36% above October 2025 but 17% below September. Battery-electric sales rose 49% year over year, while plug-in hybrids advanced 7%. Germany’s electric-vehicle share of new-car sales exceeded 45%, its highest level since December 2022, and sales in the United Kingdom grew 30%, Benchmark’s figures showed.
North America tallied 130,000 sales, up 24% from a year earlier and unchanged from September. It was the region’s first annual increase in 2026. The United States accounted for about 110,000 sales.
Benchmark said U.S. sales had settled at a lower level after the federal EV tax credit expired at the end of September 2025. It attributed more of October’s annual increase to the comparison with that period than to a renewed pickup in demand.
China’s domestic market recorded 1.14 million sales, down 12% year over year but up 5% from September. The annual decline narrowed from 18% in September, although sales for the first 10 months were still 11% lower than a year earlier. Benchmark said manufacturers kept production going amid subdued demand at home and continued exporting vehicles. Passenger new-energy vehicle exports neared 600,000, setting a monthly record.
In the rest of the world, sales totaled 300,000 in October, up 85% from a year earlier. The group’s sales were up 93% for the first 10 months of 2026.
