TurningCircle
12 November 2026updated 12:06

Photograph: Pexels

New cars

Global electric car sales rose 8% in October as Europe grew 36%

Benchmark counted 2.09m electric and plug-in hybrid cars sold worldwide in October, up 8% on 2025, with Europe 36% higher, China 12% lower and Britain up 30%.

By The TurningCircle Team 5 min read

Global sales of electric and plug-in hybrid cars returned to year-on-year growth in October, rising 8% to 2.09 million, according to Benchmark Mineral Intelligence. Europe carried the increase with a 36% rise and China fell 12%. The figures land on the morning that British ministers meet to settle the future of the country's own electric car targets.

Benchmark's count covers battery electric and plug-in hybrid passenger cars sold worldwide, which makes it broader than the UK registration figures the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders publishes each month. Three of the four regions it tracks grew in October. Only China declined.

The 2.09 million figure

October's total was 2.09 million cars, 8% more than a year earlier and 3% below September, which was a record month in Europe thanks in part to the UK's twice-yearly plate change. Sales in the first ten months of 2026 reached 17.5 million, 5% ahead of the same period in 2025, according to Benchmark's regional table as published by Electrek.

The research house attributes Europe's acceleration to subsidies, higher fuel prices, EU emissions legislation and a wider choice of models. Those are the same forces that have lifted UK registrations this year, and they are the ones the government is now weighing against the cost of its mandate.

Europe's 510,000 and Germany's 45% share

Europe sold 510,000 electric and plug-in hybrid cars in October, 36% more than a year earlier. Battery electric cars led the rise at 49%, while plug-in hybrids grew 7%. The region's total for the year so far is 4.5 million, up 31%, which makes October's growth an acceleration rather than a blip.

Fleet News reported the detail from Benchmark's data manager, Charles Lester: "Europe's growth is still building, with sales up 36% year-on-year in October, ahead of the 31% year-to-date pace."

Germany's electric share topped 45% of new car sales, its highest since December 2022, when buyers rushed to beat subsidy cuts. Fully electric sales there rose almost 80% to more than 95,000. Portugal reached 55% in October.

Britain's 30% and the decision due

Benchmark puts UK growth at 30% in October and notes that the Electric Car Grant was already available a year earlier, although fewer models qualified for it then. The company's measure includes plug-in hybrids. The SMMT's battery-only figure for the same month was 48,858 registrations, up 32.7% and a 32.0% share of the market. Year to date electric cars hold 26.6% of registrations, against the 80% required in 2030.

Ministers meet today to decide whether that 80% target survives in its current form. The Guardian reported that the meeting, originally planned for Wednesday, was pushed to Thursday, with the business secretary Jonathan Reynolds pressing for 50%, the transport secretary Heidi Alexander for about 60% and the energy secretary Miatta Fahnbulleh for a figure close to 80%. Louise Haigh, standing in for the prime minister, is expected to settle somewhere between 60% and 65%, according to the same report. Our piece on the expected cut sets out the options the consultation put on the table.

The timing puts two sets of numbers side by side. Britain is running at 26.6% electric against a 2030 target of 80%, and its October share of 32.0% was the best of the year. Europe, where the car rules set a 2035 deadline rather than a 2030 sales mandate, grew 36% in the same month. Both facts will be in the room when the ministers sit down.

China's 1.14 million and a record export month

China sold 1.14 million electric and plug-in hybrid cars in October, 5% more than in September and 12% fewer than a year earlier. Sales for the ten months reached 9.1 million, down 11%, an improvement on the 13% decline at the end of September.

Lester said: "China's year-on-year decline narrowed to 12% as manufacturers continued to lean on exports, with passenger car NEV exports reaching almost 600,000 units, another monthly record."

That export push is one route by which Chinese-built cars reach the UK. Chinese brands now hold a record share of the UK market, and the October export figure suggests the flow is still increasing even as domestic Chinese demand falls.

North America's 130,000

North America sold 130,000 in October, 24% more than a year earlier and flat on September, the region's first annual increase of 2026. The year-to-date total of 1.3 million is still 21% below 2025.

Lester said: "October is the first month compared against a period without the US federal tax credit, and the US market has stabilised at a lower level rather than recovered."

That distinction matters for anyone reading the global total as a recovery. The 8% headline flatters North America, where the comparison base fell away after the credit ended. Europe is the only large region where growth is being driven by demand rather than by the weakness of the previous year's number.

The rest of the world nearly doubled

Markets outside China, Europe and North America bought 300,000 electric and plug-in hybrid cars in October, 85% more than a year earlier. The ten-month total of 2.6 million is 93% up. Australia's sales rose more than 200% in October.

Benchmark notes that the extra brands competing in Australia, many of them Chinese, have spread sales thinly enough to squeeze dealer margins. Volume without profit is the pattern to watch in any market where new entrants arrive faster than demand.

What it means for Britain

Nothing in October's global figures changes the price of a car on a British forecourt this week. The useful signal is in the regional split. Europe's 36% and Britain's 30% show demand responding where models and discounts are available, while China's 12% fall shows the largest market absorbing fewer cars at home and sending more abroad.

For a buyer, that points to more choice in the small electric and plug-in hybrid segments, and to further Chinese arrivals over the next year. The supply side is the part to watch. A lower 2030 target would mean fewer electric cars registered in Britain between now and the end of the decade, and a thinner pool of used stock arriving in the years after that.

Three dates will settle it. The mandate decision is expected this month. The SMMT publishes November registrations on 4 December, which will show whether the 32.0% October share held. The public charging count for 1 December will show whether the installation rate recovered, a subject our charging piece covered in detail this week.

Sources