Gasoline-only cars accounted for less than half of global new-car sales in the first half of this year, according to Chinese EV outlet First Electric (D1EV), citing Nikkei and Chinese automotive media Gasgoo. The shift was driven by high oil prices linked to Middle East tensions, which pushed more buyers toward electric vehicles.
Data from research firm Mobility Global showed sales of cars powered solely by a gasoline engine, excluding hybrids and other electrified models, fell 10% year on year to 20.25 million units. Their share of the global new-car market dropped three percentage points to 49%, the first time the figure has slipped below 50% since cars began to spread in the 1920s, the data provider said. Five years ago, the share stood at 73%. The numbers exclude some heavy vehicles.
Higher gasoline prices and worries about fuel supply hurt demand across major markets. Gasoline-only car sales fell 26% in China and 13% in Europe, according to the report. In the United States, EV incentive cuts and the government's decision to relax fuel economy rules have weighed on electric take-up. Still, the overall direction is toward electrification, with Mobility Global forecasting that EVs will account for more than 30% of total vehicle production by 2030 and become the mainstream technology.
EVs cross the 16% tipping point
Electric vehicles were the main beneficiary of the fuel-price shock, the report said. Global electric-vehicle sales rose 12% in the first half to 6.87 million units, equal to 17% of all new-car sales, crossing the 16% share that is widely seen as the threshold for mass adoption. China, the world's largest EV market, contributed about half of that volume. Sales there fell 3% to 3.44 million units after subsidies were phased out from January. North American EV sales also dropped 15% after the US government scaled back incentives.
Growth came from other regions. Europe's EV sales jumped 32% to 1.81 million units, and according to the European Automobile Manufacturers' Association, in 31 major European countries electric vehicles outsold gasoline cars for the first time in the first half. In Southeast Asia, EV sales surged 81% to 350,000 units, while Oceania more than doubled to 110,000 units.
Chinese manufacturers are central to the global shift. International Energy Agency figures cited in the report show that Chinese automakers such as Geely and BYD account for 60% of worldwide EV and plug-in hybrid sales, and that 55% of the electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles sold outside the United States, Europe and China are imported from China.
Policy still decides the pace
The rebound in EV demand is fragile because it remains tied to government policy, the report noted. After the US cut incentives and relaxed fuel economy rules last autumn, automakers including Honda and General Motors revised their EV plans and recorded large losses. “The slowdown in EV adoption around 2024 was caused by subsidy cuts and growth in hybrids, but high oil prices have made consumers pay attention to the lower running costs of EVs, and sales have recovered,” Yoshiaki Kawano, deputy head of Mobility Global, said. He added that EV owners rarely switch back to gasoline cars or hybrids, and lower prices could support demand driven by real consumer choice rather than subsidies. Mobility Global says the EV share of new-car sales has continued to rise since July.
Japanese automakers, by contrast, are still betting on hybrids. Half-year hybrid sales rose 10% to 7.27 million units, or 18% of the global new-car market, because hybrid fuel economy still beats gasoline models even when pump prices rise, the report said.
