Brussels – It’s now official: electric and alternative-fuel engines are becoming increasingly common in the European Union. According to Eurostat, the EU’s statistical office, in 2025 the EU imported 45.1 billion euros of hybrid and electric cars, a 4 per cent increase from 2024 (43.4 billion euros). Exports reached 64.7 billion euros, a 10 per cent increase from the previous year (58.7 billion euros). Trade has grown steadily since 2017, when electric and hybrid cars accounted for just 10 per cent of total car imports and 3 per cent of exports.
In 2025, the share of fully electric cars imported stood at 20 per cent, while exports accounted for 18 per cent (0.8 per cent and 1.1 per cent, respectively, in 2017). For plug-in hybrid cars – that is, vehicles that combine an internal combustion engine, running on petrol or diesel, with one or more electric motors powered via a plug – imports accounted for 17 per cent and exports for 9 per cent (1.2 per cent and 1.8 per cent in 2017).
The proportion of non-plug-in hybrid cars – that is, vehicles that combine a combustion engine and an electric motor but do not need to be plugged in to charge – stood at 23 per cent for imports and 14 per cent for exports (8 per cent and 0.3 per cent, respectively, in 2017).
As regards EU production, of the 12.6 million cars manufactured in the Union in 2025, almost 40 per cent were hybrid or electric. This corresponds to 4.8 million units, an increase of almost one million compared with 2024 (3.9 million). In detail, 17 per cent were electric, 7 per cent were plug-in hybrids and 14 per cent were non-plug-in hybrids. In terms of value, car production – including both electric and hybrid vehicles – reached 139 billion euros in 2025, compared with 123 billion euros the previous year.
Electric cars had the highest value at 68 billion euros (up from 58 billion euros in 2024), followed by non-plug-in hybrid cars at 38 billion euros (unchanged from 2024) and plug-in hybrid cars at 33 billion euros (up from 27 billion euros in 2024). Looking at the EU as a whole, electric cars, non-plug-in hybrid cars and plug-in hybrid cars accounted for 21 per cent, 12 per cent and 10 per cent, respectively.
China was the country from which the EU imported the most electric and hybrid cars, accounting for 42 per cent of the total. In second place was South Korea (27 per cent), followed by Japan (9 per cent). In terms of exports, the three main destinations were the United Kingdom (35 per cent), the United States and Norway (both at 14 per cent).
English version by the Translation Service of Withub
