Emerging Economies Propel Global Electric Vehicle Sales Past 25% Milestone

2025-12-18 economy

London, Thursday, 18 December 2025.
Emerging markets are leapfrogging advanced economies to drive global electric vehicle sales past 25 percent in 2025, with nations like Vietnam and Indonesia now outpacing the US.

A Global Shift in Automotive Demand

Data released this week by energy think tank Ember marks a definitive turning point in the global automotive sector. As of October 2025, electric vehicles (EVs) accounted for over 25 percent of new car sales worldwide, a dramatic rise from less than 3 percent in 2019 [1]. This surge is not being led by the traditional automotive powerhouses of the West, but rather by a rapidly expanding cohort of emerging economies. In 2019, only four countries—all in Europe—had achieved an EV sales share greater than 10 percent; by 2025, that number has swelled to 39 nations, including 12 outside of Europe [1][6]. Euan Graham, an electricity and data analyst at Ember, notes that the “centre of gravity has moved,” with emerging markets transitioning from followers to leaders in the shift toward electric mobility [5].

The ASEAN Acceleration

The report, published on December 16, 2025, highlights Southeast Asia as a particularly aggressive driver of this trend [1]. Vietnam and Singapore have both reached EV penetration rates of approximately 40 percent in 2025, a figure that places them ahead of established markets like the United Kingdom and the European Union [1][5]. The speed of adoption in Vietnam is particularly notable; the country’s EV share was less than 0.05 percent as recently as 2021 [5][7]. This growth has been fueled largely by domestic manufacturing, with the local VinFast VF 3 model becoming the nation’s best-selling car [7]. Similarly, Thailand has seen its EV market share exceed 20 percent in 2025, up from just 1 percent in 2019 [1]. To put this volume in perspective, Thailand sold more electric vehicles in the first ten months of 2025 than Denmark, which is considered one of Europe’s leading EV markets [4].

New Leaders Overtake Legacy Markets

While Southeast Asia surges, traditional western markets are showing signs of stagnation. Indonesia, the largest economy in Southeast Asia, saw its EV sales share reach 15 percent in 2025, surpassing the United States for the first time [1][5]. The divergence in trajectory is stark: while Indonesia is accelerating, the US market share has plateaued at roughly 10 percent since 2023 [5]. This stagnation in the US coincides with significant policy headwinds, including the Trump administration’s removal of the federal EV tax credit, which came into effect in October 2025 [1]. Meanwhile, other major emerging economies are also outpacing traditional leaders; Brazil, Mexico, and India now boast higher EV sales shares than Japan [1].

Strategic Policy and Chinese Exports

The rapid uptake in these regions is underpinned by a combination of government incentives and the availability of affordable models, largely imported from China. Since July 2023, non-OECD markets have driven nearly all growth in Chinese EV exports, with Brazil, Mexico, the UAE, and Indonesia ranking as top destinations in 2025 [1][2]. Local governments have actively courted this influx; Indonesia, for instance, introduced reduced value-added tax (VAT) and import tariffs for manufacturers committing to local facilities [1][7]. As a result, by May 2025, seven EV manufacturers and the battery giant CATL had committed to establishing operations in Indonesia [1]. In more extreme policy measures, Ethiopia banned the import of internal combustion engine vehicles in 2024, resulting in a 60 percent EV sales share that year, while Nepal saw EVs constitute 76 percent of new car sales [1].

Efficiency Gains and Fossil Fuel Displacement

Beyond market share statistics, this shift has immediate implications for global energy demand. Electric vehicles are approximately three times more efficient than their internal combustion counterparts, allowing for significant reductions in oil consumption even in grids that rely on fossil fuels [2]. In Brazil, where the electricity mix is predominantly clean, battery electric vehicles (BEVs) have cut fossil fuel demand by roughly 90 percent compared to traditional vehicles [2]. Even in Indonesia, which relies more heavily on fossil fuel generation, the switch to BEVs has reduced fuel demand by nearly half [2]. As Graham concluded in the report, the assumption that EV growth would stall outside of China and Europe is “already outdated,” and decisions made now regarding infrastructure will define the future pace of this global transition [2].

Sources

Electric Vehicles Emerging Markets