Turkey’s electric vehicle (EV) market reached a record level in 2025, with nearly one in six new cars sold being fully electric.
Around half of those sales were split between US brand Tesla and Turkey’s domestic brand, Togg.
Turkey is ahead of several European Union countries in EV adoption. While electric car sales have also risen across the EU, average market shares remain lower in many member states, despite higher overall volumes.
In Turkey, Tesla accounted for around 27 per cent of EV sales in 2025, followed closely by Togg at 24 per cent.
South Korean brand Kia made up about 7 per cent of sales, while Chinese manufacturer BYD ranked fourth, with its Yuan model accounting for roughly 5.5 per cent.
Other BYD models, additional Korean brands and a small number of European manufacturers followed further down the ranking.
Despite high taxes and tight financing conditions, overall car sales in Turkey rose by 10.5 per cent last year to 1.37 million units, according to the Automotive Distributors and Mobility Association.
Across the EU, battery-electric vehicles accounted for 16.9 per cent of new car sales up to November 2025, up from 13.4 per cent over the same period a year earlier. This represented around 1.66 million new EVs according to the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association. Sales were concentrated mainly in Germany, France, Belgium and the Netherlands.
Turkey overtook Belgium during the first half of last year to become Europe’s fourth-largest passenger battery-EV market, behind only Germany, the UK and France.
Analysts said the arrival of a large number of more affordable electric models in late 2024 and early 2025 was closely linked to carmakers working to meet European sales targets, including in the UK and Turkey.
Electric car sales across the EU rose by about 30 per cent last year, according to pan-European non-profit organisation Transport & Environment (T&E). The increase was largely driven by the launch of lower-priced electric models, timed to help manufacturers meet their 2025 targets, T&E said.
Chinese carmakers recorded some of the fastest growth. BYD nearly tripled its European registrations year-on-year to around 42,500 vehicles by November, while SAIC, which owns the MG brand, increased sales by 26 per cent to about 217,000 units.
Despite the EU introducing higher tariffs on Chinese-made electric cars in 2024 over subsidy concerns, sales continued to rise as manufacturers sought growth outside a highly competitive domestic market.
Matthias Schmidt, a European automotive market analyst, told Brussels Signal yesterday that, after a slow start following the introduction of anti-subsidy tariffs at the end of 2024, sales of Chinese electric vehicles recovered as the year progressed.
He said Chinese brands were set to account for about one in every nine battery-EVs registered across western Europe, including the UK.
“However, that only represents less than half of Chinese models entering the region,” Schmidt said.
Around six in 10 Chinese cars sold in the EU were not fully electric but instead used internal combustion engines or hybrid systems. Growth, Schmidt said, was increasingly coming from these models as they are not subject to the tariffs applied specifically to battery-EVs.
Tesla registrations fell in several European markets towards the end of the year, as the company’s regional market share declined over 2025. This was despite the launch of cheaper versions of the Model Y and Model 3.
By contrast, BYD saw German sales surge by more than 700 per cent to over 23,000 cars, giving it a small but growing share of the overall market.
Elsewhere in Europe, Spain recorded the largest increase in electric car sales at 77 per cent. The rise was driven by government incentives worth up to €3,000, as well as the arrival of more affordable models from Kia, BYD and Renault.
Italy saw the second-largest increase, with EV sales rising by 44 per cent amid new subsidies. Sales were mainly boosted by lower-priced European models.
Germany, Europe’s largest car market, recorded a 43 per cent rise in electric sales, reversing a slump in 2024 after subsidies had been abruptly withdrawn.
The UK recorded the highest electric market share among major European markets at 23 per cent. France also saw strong growth, reaching a 20 per cent electric market share, driven by domestic brands Renault and Citroën and the return of social-leasing schemes.
