China’s electric vehicle (EV) industry is entering a new phase of global expansion. After building extraordinary scale at home, where EVs now represent around 55% of new car sales, China produced roughly 16 million EVs in 2025, compared with domestic sales of 13.2 million.

Exports have consequently become an increasingly important outlet, doubling to 2.5 million vehicles in 2025. This expansion is also becoming more geographically diverse: Europe continues to grow in absolute terms, but its share of Chinese overseas EV sales has fallen as Asia-Pacific, South America and other emerging markets expand rapidly.

China’s combination of domestic scale, manufacturing capacity and deep battery supply chains provides a powerful platform for this next phase of international growth.