- China's EV exports grew by 87% in November.
- Almost 1 million Chinese EVs were exported across Asia, and over 600,000 ended up in Europe so far in 2025.
- Mexico saw exponential year-over-year growth after BYD launched a series of affordable models in the country.
China’s domestic electric vehicle market is starting to show signs of slowing, and the country’s biggest automakers are looking to continue their growth by increasing their focus on exports. It certainly seems to be working, according to November's data shared by the Chinese government and reported on by Bloomberg.
Last month, China exported 87% more EVs than it did in November 2024, reaching nearly 200,000 units. It has exported just shy of 2 million EVs in the first 11 months of 2025. Asia is still the number one destination for these China-built plug-ins, but other markets are seeing much more rapid growth.
Bloomberg notes that 19,344 EVs were delivered to Mexico in November alone, a 2,367% increase over the same month in 2024. This brings the total number of new Chinese EVs exported to the country this year to 96,194, up 150% from 2024.
BYD launched a slew of new models and is now the EV leader in Mexico, aiming to more than double its 2024 sales to 100,000 units by the end of this year. The manufacturer is also seeking a suitable location in Mexico to build a major manufacturing facility to serve all of Latin America.
Latin America and the Caribbean combined saw a 283% year-over-year increase in Chinese EV imports last month and the number is up 65% through November. Mexico and Brazil are this region’s biggest markets.
Exports to Europe are also growing, with over 42,000 units in November and more than 600,000 this year, a 12% increase over 2024. More Chinese EVs entered Europe this year, even though they face a combination of import tariffs (over 40% for some manufacturers), markups and market-specific changes that make the same car sometimes cost over 50% more than in China.
The biggest European markets for Chinese EVs are the United Kingdom (up 113% over November 2024) and Belgium, each with around 9,000 imports last month and around 121,000 and 195,000 imports respectively through November.
Almost one million EVs were exported to Asia (excluding China) through November or 36% more than last year. Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines and Malaysia were the continent’s biggest destinations for Chinese-built plug-ins and all saw substantial increases over 2024.
Most of the EVs made in China are still sold domestically. China produced some 17 million EVs in 2024 or around 70% of all EVs built globally (and that number is expected to grow this year). Around 11 million didn’t leave the country, although not all of them actually found buyers, as manufacturers were found to be buying and registering EVs in bulk to bolster the numbers. Many of these cars ended up as zero-mile used cars later sold at a discount abroad.
Chinese EV exports were on the upswing in 2025, but 2026 could bring a slowdown. Western automakers are finally launching good compromise-free EVs that rival the best that China has to offer. Cars like the Mercedes-Benz CLA, BMW iX3 or the electric Porsche Macan all show that manufacturers have finally figured it out and next year is when even more of what we have called "Gen 3 EVs" are set to debut.
