Wolfsburg: The EU exported €64.7 billion of electric and hybrid cars in 2025, up 10% from €58.7 billion in 2024, according to a Eurostat news article published on 13 October 2026. Imports of electric and hybrid cars rose more slowly, by 4%, to €45.1 billion from €43.4 billion a year earlier. The figures cover passenger cars only.

The trade surplus in these vehicles therefore widened to roughly €19.6 billion, based on the Eurostat export and import totals. Exporters gained ground while import values grew more slowly. Eurostat compares the 2025 shares with those of 2017 to show how fast the market has changed.

On the import side, full electric cars made up 20% of all car imports in 2025, against 0.8% in 2017. Plug-in hybrids accounted for 17%, up from 1.2%, and non-plug-in hybrids for 23%, up from 8%. Together, electric and hybrid cars now represent around 60% of what the EU buys from outside the bloc.

On the export side, the mix looks different. Full electric cars accounted for 18% of EU car exports in 2025 (1.1% in 2017), plug-in hybrids for 9% (1.8%) and non-plug-in hybrids for 14% (0.3%). Eurostat reports that China supplied 42% of the EU’s imported electric cars, followed by South Korea at 27% and Japan at 9%.

The main destinations for EU-made electric cars were the United Kingdom with 35% of exports, followed by the United States and Norway with 14% each. Those partner shares show where European carmakers and importers face the strongest competition and the most reliable demand. They also matter for trade policy, because tariffs and quotas on electric and hybrid cars shape these flows.

Production tells the same story. The EU produced 12.6 million cars in 2025, and almost 40% of them, or 4.8 million, were hybrid or electric, up from 3.9 million in 2024. Electric cars took 17% of output, plug-in hybrids 7% and non-plug-in hybrids 14%.

The value of that output reached €139 billion, up from €123 billion in 2024. Full electric cars contributed €68 billion (€58 billion in 2024), plug-in hybrids €33 billion (€27 billion) and non-plug-in hybrids €38 billion, unchanged from the year before. The data show that electric and hybrid cars now drive both growth and value in the EU car industry.

The year-on-year gains differ by technology. Electric cars added €10 billion of production value and plug-in hybrids added €6 billion, while non-plug-in hybrids stayed flat. By share of total EU car production value, electric cars represent 21%, non-plug-in hybrids 12% and plug-in hybrids 10%, which adds up to about 43% of the value of everything the EU builds.

Eurostat’s article covers 2025 only. Readers who follow the sector should treat the 2025 numbers as a baseline for the next annual comparison. The figures confirm that electric and hybrid cars have moved from a niche into the centre of EU trade and manufacturing.