Germany sees new electric car market outpace the US during 2026
- Matthias Schmidt
- Jun 29
- 2 min read
While Polestar has just been given its marching orders to vacate the US market, the headline news is not quite so dramatic, given that the appetite for EVs in the world's second-largest new car market has effectively evaporated for now.
Western Europe's xEV plug-in passenger car market, consisting of plug-in hybrids and pure BEV electric cars, is not only seeing volumes outpace US volumes by a factor of four this year, but German volumes, Europe’s largest, alone are now outpacing the US, according to exclusive research by the most recent edition of Schmidt Automotive Research's monthly European Electric Car Market Intelligence Study (€).
While 322,772 new BEVs and PHEVs were registered across the US so far this year, according to US government data, 327,640 entered the German market during the same period, according to KBA data.
While Germany is also seeing its BEV-only volumes equal the entire US market, with 64,350 units delivered in April, compared to 64,517 across the US.
Meanwhile, German volumes are expected to rise further during the second half of the year as the latest purchase subsidies for average-earning households are introduced along with a rally of new products boosting the more affordable A and B-sector, thanks to the roll-out of LFP batteries from incumbents, as well as a tech-driven software-defined, long-range and fast charging product rollouts from premium OEMs, boosting corporate channels.
Since the removal of federal tax benefits in October 2025 and the dilution of federal regulatory targets under the current administration, the US has witnessed demand for plug-ins slow dramatically, with US-exposed OEMs rolling back on previously planned EV investments.
The slowdown in xEV volumes in China is partly due to a front-loaded market towards the end of 2025 before a 5% purchase tax for NEVs was introduced in 2026...
This includes extracts from one of our full studies which are available below. To discover more about out studies just contact us
Scope: Western Europe's 18 Markets: EU Member States prior to the 2004 enlargement, plus EFTA markets Norway, Switzerland, Iceland, plus UK – accounting for 90% of the enlarged European region.
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