Drivers bought 2.09 million electric vehicles worldwide in October, according to Reuters, citing new data from UK research firm Benchmark Mineral Intelligence. Global sales climbed 8% from a year earlier, and the first ten months of 2026 now total 17.5 million vehicles, up 5%. On the surface, the EV slowdown is over.
It is not — at least not everywhere. The global number is a composite of three different stories: Europe booming, China exporting its way out of a domestic slump, and North America posting a gain that flatters a market still well below its pre-tax-credit level.
Europe Is Doing the Heavy Lifting
Europe sold 510,000 EVs in October, up 36% year over year, Electrek reports, citing the same Benchmark data. Fully electric cars did most of the work: battery-electric sales jumped 49%, plug-in hybrids 7%. Europe has now sold 4.5 million EVs in 2026.
Germany led the surge: EVs took more than 45% of new-car sales, the highest share since December 2022, and fully electric sales rose almost 80% to more than 95,000. UK EV sales rose 30%, and in Portugal, EVs accounted for 55% of new-car sales.
China’s Sales Fell — and Its Exports Exploded
China sold 1.14 million EVs in October, down 12% from a year earlier, though the decline narrowed from September’s 18% drop. Yet EVs still took a record share of China’s new-car market, as the wider passenger-car market shrinks even faster. The real story is what Chinese automakers did with the cars they could not sell at home: new-energy vehicle exports hit nearly 600,000 in October, another monthly record, up from 558,000 in September.
That export engine faces headwinds: the EU has agreed to cap imports of Chinese-built hybrids, and China will cut its EV export VAT rebate from 13% to 9% from April 1, 2027.
North America’s 24% Jump Comes With a Catch
North American EV sales rose 24% year over year to 130,000 in October, the region’s first annual increase of 2026, with US sales of around 110,000. But October 2025 was the first month after the federal EV tax credit expired for vehicles acquired after September 30, 2025 — and sales collapsed in its wake. October 2026 is measured against that crater.
“October is the first month compared against a period without the US federal tax credit, and the US market has stabilized at a lower level rather than recovered,” Benchmark data manager Charles Lester told Reuters. Sales were flat from September, and the region is still down 21% for the year so far.
| Region | October 2026 | Year over year | Jan–Oct 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|
| China | 1.14 million | −12% | 9.1 million (−11%) |
| Europe | 0.51 million | +36% | 4.5 million (+31%) |
| North America | 0.13 million | +24% | 1.3 million (−21%) |
| Rest of world | 0.30 million | +85% | 2.6 million (+93%) |
| Global | 2.09 million | +8% | 17.5 million (+5%) |
Why This Matters
Ford’s own numbers show what “stabilized at a lower level” looks like. According to Ford’s October sales release, the company sold just 1,355 electric vehicles in the US last month, down 71.2% — and not a single F-150 Lightning, after production of the electric pickup ended. EVs were 0.8% of Ford’s October US sales, down from 2.7% a year ago, while its gas models rose 3.6%. The wider market tells the same story: Cox Automotive’s Kelley Blue Book estimates put US EV sales at 266,630 in the third quarter, down 38.6% from the tax-credit rush of a year earlier, with Tesla alone holding 54% of the market.
Meanwhile the rest of the world is quietly passing America by. Markets outside China, Europe and North America bought 300,000 EVs in October, up 85% — more than double all of North America’s 130,000 — with Australia’s sales jumping more than 200%. The global EV recovery is real, but it is being built in Europe and the export markets, not in American showrooms. For US buyers, the takeaway is blunt: the affordable EVs driving the world’s growth are landing in other countries’ driveways, while the US market stays smaller, more Tesla-dominated, and still waiting for growth to return.
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