Europe reported an increase in registration in 0.4 million cars by 24% year-on-year, as emission goals and rules helped the sale of beew in some main car markets of the continent.In March, global sales of electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles increased by 29% year-on-year, helping to increase in China and Europe, while EV growth in North America was interrupted by US President Donald Trump’s emission standards and trees around tariffs, data shown on Tuesday.
RHO motion data manager Charles Leaster said that US tariffs on car imports can force some vehicle manufacturers of the country who said RHO Motion Data Manager Charles Leaster, to read prices in neighboring Mexico, or pursue their production. He said that about 39% of EVs sold in the US are imported, and locally manufactured EVs use imported batteries using a quarter of EVs.
Meanwhile, Chinese counter-tariffs can affect Tesla’s US-made model, making the models sold in China almost double the prices of S and Model X cars, Lester said.
The latest figure corresponds to an increase in the previous months, contributing to an increase in sales 29% in the first quarter.
Why it is important
The US began collecting 25% tariffs on foreign auto imports from April 3, which President Donald Trump says that American would promote manufacturing and jobs.
Experts have warned that tariffs will shake global supply chains and lead rising prices and low sales in the country.
Facing trade disruption, the European Union agreed to look at the discount of tariffs on Chinese-made EV last week, which aims to determine minimum prices for those cars.
In number
The RHO motion data shows that the global sales of battery-electric vehicles (BEVs) and plug-in hybrids (PHEV) increased to 1.7 million in March.
Sales in China were 36% from the same month of 2024 to about 1 million vehicles.
Europe reported an increase in registration in 0.4 million cars by 24% year-on-year, as emission goals and rules helped the sale of beew in some main car markets of the continent.
In the United States and Canada, EV sales rose 12% to 0.2 million in March.
In the rest of the world, March sales increased by 13%.
Major quotation
Leaster said a proposed discount of the European Union’s 2025 CO2 emissions “certainly gives some relief to the vehicle manufacturers in Europe”, Lester said.
“A lot of investment, a lot of planned models are still releasing. It only helps vehicle manufacturers financially”, he said.
Context
Governments worldwide are adopting policies to encourage EV adoption, while trade tension and slow car markets can shut down and damage thousands of job losses.
China increased its auto trade-in subsidy in 2025 as part of an extended consumer trade-in scheme in January to reduce the recession in EV sales by reviving economic growth.
