Europe Sets Electric Car Record, Global Market Weakens

JAKARTA - Electric car sales in Europe jumped sharply in March 2026. For the first time, the figure broke through more than half a million units. At the same time, the global market has not really recovered.

Citing an Anadolu Agency report, Tuesday, April 14 referring to Benchmark Mineral Intelligence data, electric car sales in Europe in March approached 540 thousand units. This figure is up 72 percent from February and grew 37 percent compared to the same period last year.

This surge is inseparable from the increase in fuel prices. The disruption of oil supplies in the midst of the US-Israel-Iran war makes fuel-based driving costs more expensive. On the other hand, a number of countries are again pouring subsidies. This combination encourages consumers to switch to electric cars.

England, Belgium, Finland, France, Italy, Portugal, and Spain were the markets with the most notable growth.

Globally, electric car sales in March reached 1.75 million units. A slight increase of 3 percent compared to last year, but jumped 66 percent compared to the previous month. Europe is the main support for this increase.

But if drawn into a wider picture, the story is different. In the first quarter of 2026, global electric car sales actually fell 3 percent to around 4 million units.

This decline was mainly triggered by China. The world's largest market recorded sales of 1.9 million units in the first quarter, down 21 percent from a year ago. The sharp decline in February, during the Chinese New Year holiday, also weighed on the performance at the beginning of the year.

North America has also not shown improvement. Sales in this region fell 27 percent to 320 thousand units. On the other hand, Europe grew 27 percent to 1.2 million units, while other regions jumped 79 percent to 600 thousand units.

Benchmark Mineral Intelligence's Data Manager, Charles Lester, quoted by Anadolu, said March was Europe's strongest month in records. According to Lester, rising fuel prices and subsidy support were the main drivers.

Even so, the market is not yet fully stable. Lester reminded that there is still fundamental pressure, ranging from vehicle prices, charging infrastructure, to policies that are not uniform between countries. The difference in performance between regions is also increasingly visible.