Volkswagen Group has claimed the top spot in global electric vehicle (EV) sales for the first four months of 2025, excluding the Chinese market. Tesla experienced a sharp decline of over 20% in sales, landing in second place. Hyundai Motor Group secured the third position in this analysis.
According to SNE Research on Tuesday, global EV sales, excluding China, reached approximately 2,193,000 units from January to April 2025. This marks a 21.3% increase compared to the same period last year.
Volkswagen Group led the pack with 374,000 units sold, a remarkable 71% increase from the previous year. The company’s growth was primarily driven by strong sales of its flagship models, including the ID.3, ID.4, ID.7, Q4 e-Tron, and ENYAQ.
Tesla secured the second position with 259,000 units sold, despite a 20.1% decrease from the previous year. The company experienced sales declines of 34.6% in Europe and 9.1% in North America. In Europe, the sales drop was attributed to production halts for the Model Y’s facelift version, Juniper, as well as inventory shortages.
Analysts suggest that delays in launching the anticipated affordable model, initially expected in the first half of this year, and damage to the brand image due to CEO Elon Musk’s controversial statements have also impacted Tesla’s performance.
Hyundai Motor Group maintained steady growth, securing the third position with 189,000 units sold, an 11.4% increase from the previous year. The company is experiencing increased global sales of the Kia EV3 and EV9 models, demonstrating competitiveness in the North American market by outperforming Stellantis, Ford, and General Motors. Kia is also accelerating its European market strategy by unveiling the compact EV4 sedan and the small EV2 electric SUV.
BMW ranked fourth with 172,000 units sold, a 7.1% decrease from the previous year. Stellantis came in fifth with 160,700 units sold, a 27.1% increase. Chinese EV manufacturer BYD showed impressive growth, selling 155,000 units, a 126.1% increase. Toyota, the world’s largest automaker by total vehicle sales, sold 87,000 EVs, a 38% increase.
The European market, which experienced negative growth last year due to the EV chasm, showed signs of recovery this year with sales of 1,215,000 units, a 26.2% increase from the previous year.
In the North American market, where uncertainty has increased due to the Trump administration’s rollback of mandatory EV sales targets and reduction of subsidies, 557,000 units were sold, representing a 4% increase from the previous year. The Asian market, excluding China, sold 315,000 units, representing a 37.1% increase from the prior year.