Cui Dongshu: Global car sales reached 13.96 million units in January-February, with new energy vehicles accounting for over 19%

Zhitong Finance APP learned from the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA) that Cui Dongshu, Secretary-General of the Passenger Car Association, said in a post that global vehicle sales reached 13.96 million units in January–February 2026, and new energy vehicles reached 2.68 million units. The share of new energy vehicles in January–February 2026 reached 19.3%, of which pure electric vehicles accounted for 13.1%, plug-in hybrids accounted for 6.2%, and the proportion of cars with plug-in hybrids was 6.2%; new energy performance was excellent.

Europe’s new energy passenger vehicle sales in 2025 were 3.86 million units, an increase of 0.96 million units versus the same period last year, up 33%. Preliminary statistics show that in January–February 2026, Europe’s new energy passenger cars reached 0.55 million units, up 16% year over year. In the U.S., sales of new energy vehicles in 2025 were 1.63 million units, up 1%, with slower growth speed than in recent years. Due to price increases from high tariffs and the cancellation of new energy subsidies, U.S. sales of new energy vehicles in February 2026 were 78k units, down 34% year over year; sales in January–February were 160k units, down 33%.

In January–February 2026, China’s share of global new energy passenger vehicles reached a level of 60%. In early 2026, China’s share of the global pure electric vehicle market was 54%. Due to early-year factors, China’s pure electric vehicle performance was temporarily weaker. In 2026, China’s share of the world plug-in hybrid market reached a high level of 72%, and China’s performance in the world plug-in hybrid market has been exceptionally strong. With the rise of plug-in hybrids, China’s world share of hybrid powertrains has declined since 2023, but in 2026 China’s hybrid powertrain share rebounded to 18.3% of the world.

Because China’s exports of independent new energy products performed well, while the United States changed significantly, the share of overseas sales of independent new energy passenger vehicles increased substantially. In January–February 2026, the overseas sales share of independent new energy passenger vehicles reached 27%, jumping sharply.

I. Global new energy vehicle trends

1. Global new energy vehicle performance in 2026

Global vehicle sales in 2024 were 91.77 million units, of which new energy vehicles were 17.88 million units, and the share of fuel vehicles declined relatively. In 2025, global vehicle sales reached 96.89 million units, with new energy vehicles reaching 22.89 million units.

In January–February 2026, global vehicle sales reached 13.96 million units, and new energy vehicles reached 2.68 million units. In January–February 2026, ordinary hybrid powertrains surpassed plug-in hybrids to become a growth highlight.

2. World vehicle energy structure

In 2025, the share of “broad new energy” vehicle sales in the world reached 30% of global vehicle sales, which is 4 percentage points higher than the level for full-year 2024; “narrow new energy” vehicles reached 23.6%, showing a relatively strong state.

In January–February 2026, the share of new energy vehicles reached 19.3%. Pure electric vehicles accounted for 13.1%, and plug-in hybrids accounted for 6.2% of cars. Hybrid powertrains accounted for 6.4%, with excellent performance.

II. Trends in global new energy passenger vehicles

1. Trends in the global new energy passenger vehicle market

From 2022 to 2024, global new energy vehicles showed a trend of accelerating growth, and growth with a low base was even stronger. In 2025, global new energy vehicles started from a relatively low level, then returned to high growth from February to September.

In 2026, global new energy vehicles started from a low base; in January, there were only 1.42 million units, still setting a record high for the month. In February, there were only 1.26 million, showing negative growth. Because of the combined effects of China’s February Spring Festival factor and the United States stopping the tax-free policy, growth in global new energy vehicles slowed down.

2. Performance of global new energy passenger vehicles

In 2020, sales of new energy passenger vehicles reached 2.87 million units, with a trend consistent with a 42% year-over-year increase versus the same period in 2019. In 2021, sales of new energy passenger vehicles reached 6.37 million units, showing an exceptionally strong performance with growth of 122%, exceeding expectations.

The trend of global new energy passenger vehicles in 2022 was strong; full-year sales reached 10.39 million units, up 63% year over year. In 2023, the trend remained strong; full-year sales reached 13.88 million units, up 34% year over year.

In 2024, global new energy passenger vehicles reached 17.88 million units, up 29% year over year. Because new energy trends in Europe and the U.S. slowed down, global new energy vehicles slowed down more significantly than in the previous years. In 2025, global new energy passenger vehicles reached 22.89 million units, up 28% year over year.

In January–February 2026, global new energy passenger vehicles reached 2.68 million units, up 1% year over year, with a growth rate far below the historical normal level.

3. Trends in overseas new energy passenger vehicle markets

This year, the overseas trend in February was relatively volatile, forming the characteristic of a divergence in overseas new energy market trends. Because the European new energy market is large, overall overseas new energy performance was relatively good.

In markets outside China, the growth trend of new energy was generally unusually strong. In the U.S., the recent trend of new energy vehicles fluctuated sharply. Because the new energy trends in Europe and the U.S. rebounded significantly, the growth rate in January–February reached 19%, close to the levels of 2024–2025.

Among the main markets that can currently be tracked overseas, analysis shows that overseas market performance of new energy vehicles from independent brands has continued to strengthen. In 2023, independent brand new energy vehicles from China had a 7.1% share in overseas markets. In 2024, independent new energy passenger vehicles’ overseas sales share was 9.6%, up 2.5 percentage points. In 2025, independent new energy passenger vehicles’ overseas sales share reached 15.8%, increasing significantly. In January–February 2026, independent new energy passenger vehicles’ overseas sales share reached 27%, jumping sharply again.

In January–February 2026, independent new energy passenger vehicles’ overseas sales share was 27%, up 14.6 percentage points versus the first quarter of 2025 year over year. Because independent new energy exports performed well, while the U.S. new energy vehicle market shrank severely, the overseas sales share of independent new energy passenger vehicles increased substantially. Currently, in both South America and Southeast Asia, the new energy share exceeds 60%.

Looking at regional market trends for new energy vehicles, Europe surpassed China in 2020. From 2021 to 2026, Europe’s new energy vehicle market generally maintained stable growth at a high level, while China’s new energy vehicle market in recent years has continued to show strong momentum.

China’s decline in the first two months of this year is temporary; Europe’s and the U.S.’s new energy vehicle trends are far weaker than China’s trend.

U.S. new energy passenger vehicles weakened after October 2025. The early adopters and environmentalists in Europe and the U.S. have already purchased electric vehicles. The U.S. government canceled subsidies for new energy vehicles, which has had a significant impact on U.S. new energy. Even though Tesla has opened up the use of automated driving, the improvement in sales penetration has not met expectations.

In 2025, U.S. sales of new energy vehicles were 1.63 million units, up 1%, with a lower growth rate than in recent years. Due to the price increase factors from high tariffs and the cancellation of new energy subsidies, U.S. sales of new energy vehicles in February 2026 were 78k units, down 34% year over year; sales in January–February were 160k units, down 33%.

Europe’s new energy vehicle sales in February in previous years were relatively low. This year, the market saw a month-on-month decline. Against the backdrop of a sluggish European economy and consumer demand, Europe’s new energy growth is still relatively large.

In 2025, Europe’s new energy passenger vehicle sales were 3.86 million units, an increase of 0.96 million units versus the same period last year, up 33%. Preliminary statistics show that in January–February 2026, Europe’s new energy passenger vehicle sales were 0.55 million units, up 16% year over year.

4. New energy penetration rates across countries

Overall, the global new energy vehicle penetration rate is showing a trend of rapid improvement. It reached 13.1% in 2022, 15.9% in 2023, 19.5% in 2024, and 23.6% in 2025. In the first quarter of 2026, the new energy penetration rate was 19.2%. Among countries, Germany reached 29.6%, Norway 69.5%, the UK 31.9%, while the U.S. was only 6.6%, and Japan was only 2.2%. Therefore, the imbalance in global new energy development is extremely evident.

As China continues to strengthen its new energy development while the U.S. weakens its encouragement policies, Europe gradually restarts new energy subsidies, and global new energy vehicles have entered a new stage of differentiated development.

5. Contribution to new energy vehicle sales across countries

The development of global new energy vehicles in 2026 reflects stronger growth in Asia, especially explosive growth in Thailand, South Korea, and Germany’s new energy vehicles. Italy and France’s new energy vehicle performance is also relatively good. China is temporarily weaker due to the Spring Festival factor.

New energy in major European countries has shown stronger growth, and the contribution of China’s new energy vehicles remains to be improved.

III. Structural characteristics of global new energy passenger vehicles

1. Trends in the global new energy passenger vehicle market

In 2021, Europe’s full-year new energy market was impacted by the pandemic, and new energy growth was relatively weak. In 2022, the pandemic impact still remained; Europe’s share in 2022 fell significantly more than in 2021. From 2023 to 2024, Europe’s share continued to decline slightly. In 2025, Europe’s global share of new energy was 17%; in January–February 2026, Europe’s global share of new energy vehicles reached 20.7%, basically the same as the share in the same period last year.

Recently, the growth rate of China’s new energy passenger vehicles has been stronger than the global average growth rate, and in 2020 China’s global share of new energy passenger vehicles saw a major reversal. In 2021, China maintained a strong level of 52% for the full year; in 2022, China’s global share of new energy passenger vehicles exceeded 62%; in 2023, China’s share of the world was 64%; in 2024, it continued to push up to 69%; in 2025, China’s global share of new energy passenger vehicles was 68.3%; in January–February 2026, China’s global share of new energy passenger vehicles reached 60%.

2. Trends in new energy shares by automakers

Based on historical sales share data, BYD leads the world; Geely has risen rapidly; Tesla has not performed strongly and slipped to third place. In recent times, the overseas performance of two independent automakers—SAIC Passenger Vehicles and SAIC-GM-Wuling—has been relatively good.

Geely Automobile and Chery New Energy have shown clear recent strength. Volkswagen of Germany’s new energy performance has been strong, while BMW Group and Hyundai of South Korea have fallen to the third tier.

The competition for electrification waves in luxury cars is relatively intense, and Tesla’s performance has slowed down. Currently, the performance of BMW and Mercedes-Benz is average.

IV. Structural market trends of pure electric new energy vehicles

1. Global structure of pure electric vehicles

China’s share in the global pure electric vehicle market has been relatively stable. In 2022, it rose to a 64.8% share. In 2023–2024, the share was below the 65% level. In 2026, China’s share in the global pure electric vehicle market was 54%. Due to early-year factors, China’s pure electric vehicle performance was temporarily weak.

Europe’s pure electric vehicle share fell from 26% in 2021 to 20% in 2023. In 2025, the share relatively declined again to 17.3%. In 2025, the U.S. electric vehicle share was only 8.5%, while in January–February 2026, the 7.1% figure represents a huge decline.

2. Trends in shares by automakers

In terms of pure electric share by automakers, BYD’s share has continued to rise overall. From the 7% share level in 2021, BYD’s share increased to 17% in 2023. In 2024–2025, the share reached 18%, showing a good performance.

In pure electric vehicles, Tesla’s share has performed relatively poorly. Tesla’s share was around 23% in 2021, and it has now been sliding down to the low level of 13%.

Geely Group’s share rose from 4% in 2019 to 10.3% in 2026. SAIC’s pure electric share has been relatively strong recently, while GAC Group and Changan’s pure electric share has been relatively stable.

V. Structural market trends of plug-in hybrid new energy vehicles

1. Global structure of plug-in hybrids

China’s share of plug-in hybrids in the world has continued to strengthen. In 2021, China’s share of plug-in hybrids in the world was at the 33% level. By 2025, China’s share of plug-in hybrids in the world reached an extremely high level of 76.4%. In 2026, China’s share of plug-in hybrids in the world reached a high level of 72%, showing extremely strong performance in the world plug-in hybrid market.

Europe’s plug-in hybrid share fell from 55% in 2021 to 20% in 2026.

2. Trends in shares by automakers

In terms of plug-in hybrid share by automakers, BYD is the most outstanding. BYD’s global plug-in hybrid share was 15% in 2021. It rose to 36% of the global plug-in hybrid market in 2023. BYD’s plug-in hybrid share was 39% in 2024, which was very good. This year, in January–February, the share has been maintained at 30.9%, reflecting BYD’s leading performance in the plug-in hybrid market.

Volkswagen of Germany’s plug-in hybrid share rose sharply to 15% in 2021, then declined to a low point in 2024, and in 2026 it recovered again to 6.3%. BMW’s plug-in hybrid share then declined to a low point in 2024, and in 2026 it recovered again to 2.8%. Geely Volvo’s plug-in hybrid share is at the 15.6% level worldwide.

VI. Structural market trends of hybrid powertrains

1. Global structure of conventional hybrids (including mild/regular hybrids)

China’s hybrid powertrain development accelerated in the first two years, and in 2022 it became one of the world’s largest hybrid markets. With the rise of plug-in hybrids, since 2023 China’s world share of hybrid powertrains has declined, but in 2026 China’s hybrid powertrain share rebounded to 18.3% of the world.

Since 2024, the hybrid market in the U.S. has rebounded significantly. In the first quarter of 2026, the U.S. hybrid market accounted for 32.4% of the global total.

2. Trends in corporate shares of conventional hybrids

The hybrid powertrain market is dominated by Japan and South Korea. The hybrid performance of Toyota, Honda, Nissan, and Hyundai is very strong, and in 2026 they account for 83%.

As Europe clamps down on China’s independent automakers’ pure electric vehicles, the hybrid powertrain of SAIC-MG has rapidly strengthened in the European market, reaching an outstanding level of 6%.

The hybrid shares of most other companies are all no more than 1%. Recently, Ford and Mazda have performed well in the U.S. hybrid market.

(Editor: He Xun ）

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