The soaring price of petrol is sending more Australian drivers to electric cars and the trend could change the worldwide automotive market.

Global oil shortages are driving more motorists to buy electric vehicles, with predictions they could account for almost one in three cars sold worldwide within a year.

Australian drivers could be among those behind the trend after a report found local motorists would save an additional $688 with an EV due to record petrol price increases.

The International Energy Agency released the findings on Thursday in its annual report on the sector, which also found electric vehicles were on track to represent half of all vehicles sold in 2035.

The forecast comes after Australians bought a record number of electric and hybrid vehicles in March and April following fuel shortages caused by conflict in the Middle East.

The agency’s Global EV Outlook 2026 report, which combines sales data with analysis, found electric cars sales exceeded 20 million in 2025, representing a rise of 20 per cent.

Europe recorded the strongest EV growth with sales up by 30 per cent, while Southeast Asian countries such as Vietnam, Indonesia and Thailand more than doubled the number of electric car sales.

Their popularity remained steady in the US and slowed slightly in China, where they made up more than half of all vehicle sales, but International Energy Agency executive director Fatih Birol said the year represented a turning point.

“Electric car sales set new records in close to 100 countries last year,” he said.

“The growing popularity of EVs has marked a major shift for car makers and the energy system as a whole, and it is providing some relief now amid the largest oil supply shock in history.”

Global fuel shortages were expected to draw consumer attention to the lower running costs of electric vehicles, the report said, and would help them reach 23 million sales in 2026, representing 28 per cent of all car sales.

Australian motorists were hit particularly hard by rising fuel prices – up by 34 per cent in April compared with 2025 – which meant they could save an additional $US490 a year ($688) by swapping a petrol car for a battery-powered model.

The figures showed low-emission cars were becoming an even better investment, Electric Vehicle Council policy head Aman Gaur said.

“People around the world are making the sensible decision to step into EVs, which are cheaper to run and aren’t dependent on expensive, foreign fuels,” he said.

But growth in electric cars could be affected by further fuel excise cuts, the report noted, and also by rising electricity prices.

Australians bought more than 15,400 electric cars in April, according to figures from the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries and Electric Vehicle Council, representing 16.4 per cent of all new car sales.

Source: AAP

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Sales of electric cars reached 1.6 million units in April 2026 globally, bringing the total number of EVs sold so far this year to 5.6 million. According to data from Benchmark Mineral Intelligence, the market grew 6% compared to April last year – though it did drop 9% from a very busy March. The industry looks like a patchwork quilt at the moment – some regions are moving fast, and some are slowing down.

Europe is the main growth engine for the global market. Other regions seem to struggle, but European buyers continue to embrace electric cars in record numbers. In April alone, sales in the region jumped 27% compared to the last year, totaling over 400,000 units. High gasoline prices, caused by ongoing conflicts in the Middle East, make traditional cars more expensive to run and force buyers to look at electric options. Additionally, generous government incentives and a surge of new models from Chinese manufacturers give customers more reasons to switch to EVs.

The growth within specific European countries is even more impressive. France saw its sales of electric cars rise 36% since the start of the year. Germany followed closely with a 33% increase. Italy took the spotlight by nearly doubling its market size, thanks to new government subsidies. It seems Italian drivers are finally trading their espresso-fueled city cars for battery power, with Chinese brands grabbing a large portion of those new sales.

Chinese automakers are no longer relying on only sending ships full of EVs to European ports – they are moving in. In 2025, Chinese-built vehicles made up 19% of the European market. That number has already climbed to 22% in 2026. To avoid trade tensions, many companies are building local factories. Stellantis and Leapmotor announced they will build the Leapmotor B10 electric SUV at a plant in Zaragoza, Spain, with production possibly starting as early as Q4 2026. Even Volkswagen CEO Oliver Blume suggested that sharing empty factory space with Chinese rivals might be a “clever solution” to help his company manage costs.

Source: Benchmark Minerals

Europe thrives, but the North American market is facing a cold snap. EV sales across the United States and Canada fell 25% during the first four months of the year, with the exception of Mexico. Its market grew by nearly 50% because Chinese companies rushed thousands of electric cars into Mexico before the government introduced a 50% import tariff on countries without free trade deals.

Canada is trying to fix its 7% sales slump with a new Electric Vehicle Affordability Program. This plan offers buyers up to CAD 5,000 (roughly £2,660) for qualifying electric cars. To get the full rebate, the vehicle must cost less than £26,600, though Canadian-made cars do not have a price limit. Canada also set a dedicated quota that allows 49,000 Chinese EVs to enter the country without facing a 100% tariff, showing that the government still wants affordable options on the road.

Source: Benchmark Minerals

In the United States, manufacturers are focusing on future production. Rivian has officially started building the Rivian R2 at its factory in Normal, Illinois. The company is betting big on the R2 and plans to expand its future Georgia plant to handle 300,000 vehicles a year instead of the original 200,000. Meanwhile, Tesla CEO Elon Musk confirmed that production has begun for the Tesla Cybercab. Do not expect to see many of them on the street yet – high-volume production of the Cybercab will not happen until late 2026.

China’s domestic market paints a confusing picture – local sales dropped 17% this year, mainly because the government changed subsidies for small, cheap electric cars. Without those discounts, buyers are playing a wait-and-see game, but Chinese factories are not sitting idle. They exported 400,000 EVs in April alone. In the first four months of 2026, China shipped 1.4 million EVs overseas – twice as many as the same time last year.

The global shift toward electric cars is far from a straight line. North American buyers are hesitating, Chinese domestic demand is shifting, and Europe is picking up the slack. The industry is becoming a game of local manufacturing and clever partnerships. As more brands like XPeng begin building models like the P7+ in Austria, the map of the automotive world continues to change every month.

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TOYOTA Motor Corporation (TMC) has celebrated a Japanese fiscal year (April 2025 – March 2026) sales record, finishing the period with sales up 2.5 per cent year-on-year to 11.28 million units. 

  

While the group (including Daihatsu, Hino and Lexus) is still a week away from announcing its fiscal year profits, the results show that Toyota’s “multi-pathway approach” to new energy vehicle technologies have helped to insulate the company from the effects of US tariffs and inconsistent battery electric vehicle demand globally. 

  

Daihatsu – which was forced to halt production in early 2024 following a certification scandal – rebounded strongly, with worldwide sales rising 13.9 per cent to 697,271 units. Hino, meanwhile, continued its decline, with global volume falling 13.1 per cent to 108,619 units. 

  

Although the fiscal year numbers show a healthy increase, month-by-month sales in the first quarter of 2026 headed in the wrong direction – potentially signalling a weaker result for the 2026-27 financial year. 

  

Toyota’s sales figures show the company sold 887,266 units globally in January (up 4.8 per cent YoY), and just 806,182 units in February (down 2.4 per cent YoY). 

  

March results fell by an even greater percentage, the month’s 983,126 sales representing a YoY decline of 5.8 per cent. 

  

US sales of Toyota and Lexus models climbed 7.7 per cent to a record 2.52 million units in the just-ended fiscal year, Canadian sales increased by 6.8 per cent to 248,238 vehicles, while European sales grew 1.5 per cent to 1.18 million units – another record for the Japanese brand. 

  

Global hybrid sales advanced by 0.5 per cent to 4.34 million units – accounting for close to 40 per cent of TMC’s total deliveries – while BEV sales rose 31 per cent to 188,785 units, or just 1.7 per cent of the car-maker’s overall global volume. 

  

That last figure means every region reported in TMC’s most recent fiscal year results filed its best year yet for BEV sales, led by China. 

 

Including plug-in hybrids (152,071 units, down 5.6 per cent), mild hybrids (118,510 units) and fuel cell vehicles (1,275 units), total electrified Toyota and Lexus sales reached 4.8 million units or 45.8 per cent of combined Toyota and Lexus deliveries (and 42.5 per cent of all TMC volume). 

  

TMC prestige brand Lexus sold 870,570 units across the 2025-26 fiscal year, with almost half of that figure (405,261 units) sold into North American markets. 

  

Asia (excluding Japan) was the second strongest market for Lexus, where 236,154 units were sold (down 0.5 per cent on the 2024-25 fiscal year). 

 

While BEV sales in China are growing strongly, overall Toyota and Lexus sales in the country dipped 1.4 per cent to 1.76 million units amid intensifying competition from domestic manufacturers. 

 

India proved a bright spot for TMC in Asia, with sales surging 21.4 per cent to 371,536 units. 

  

The 2025-26 fiscal year numbers continue a mostly steady trajectory for the Japanese brand. 

  

Reviewing the company’s production sales figures from 2018 to now, we note increases of 1.9 and 1.5 per cent in the lead up to the COVID-19 pandemic, the company taking a 1.4 per cent production hit in 2020, followed by a sharper 5.1 per cent hit the following year. 

  

Sales recovered quickly in 2022, up 4.7 per cent, staying positive through 2023 and 2024 (up 1.7 per cent and 5.0 per cent respectively) before falling slightly in 2025 (down 0.7 per cent). 

 

 

2018-26 TMC total sales (including Daihatsu, Hino, and Lexus)*:   

 

*Sales data supplied courtesy of Toyota Motor Corporation

The global shift toward electric cars reached an important milestone last year. In 2025, drivers around the world bought 20.53 million new energy vehicles. This group includes battery-electric cars (BEVs), plug-in hybrids (PHEVs), and fuel-cell vehicles. This is a 26% jump compared to the year before, proving that the appetite for EVs is still growing, even if the pace is starting to shift.

The numbers are big, but experts at TrendForce expect things to calm down a bit in 2026. Global EV sales are projected to reach 23.4 million units this year – still an increase, but the growth rate is expected to drop to 14%. A big reason for this change is China, which until now was the main engine driving the world’s electric car market. That market is maturing now, and the rapid-fire growth we saw in previous years is naturally slowing down.

Global EV sales rankings – source: TrendForce

China still holds the title of the world’s largest market for electric cars, accounting for about 66% of all sales in 2025. Its own growth rate sat at 24%, which was actually a little bit lower than the global average. On the other side of the map, Western Europe had a fantastic year. Sales there grew by nearly 30%, marking the best performance for the region since 2022.

The most shocking news from the 2025 rankings involves the battle at the top. For the first time, the Chinese brand BYD has overtaken Tesla to become the world leader in battery-electric car sales. BYD saw its sales grow by 25% over the year. Tesla, on the other hand, saw its sales slide by about 9%. Many analysts believe Tesla struggled because it did not release enough new or updated models to keep shoppers interested.

Tesla Model X – source: Tesla

Other Chinese companies are also making big moves. Geely climbed up to fourth place in the global rankings, doubling its market share from 3% to 6%. A lot of that success came from a small, affordable car called the Xingyuan, which costs less than 100,000 Chinese Yuan (about $13,800). Even the tech company Xiaomi is getting in on the action. It tripled its market share from 1% to 3% in just one year, landing it in eighth place globally.

Volkswagen is having a tougher time. Even though the German giant sold more cars overall, it lost ground in China. To fix this, Volkswagen launched a new brand specifically for Chinese drivers. They are also working closely with XPeng to build new cars together. We should see the first results of this partnership hit the streets real soon.

BYD is the new King of EV Sales

In the world of plug-in hybrids, BYD is still the king with a 31.5% market share. Unfortunately, even the king had a rough patch, seeing its first-ever drop in sales volume. Meanwhile, Li Auto, which used to be in second place, had a very difficult 2025. Its sales fell by 30%, and it dropped to fifth place in the hybrid rankings. To fight back, Li Auto is spending a lot of money on Artificial Intelligence to make its cars smarter and more high-tech.

2026 will bring some big changes to how people pay for electric cars. In China, the government is changing how it gives out discounts. Instead of a flat cash amount, the subsidy will be a percentage of the car’s price. This might make cheaper cars feel more expensive for buyers. In the United States, the situation is even more dramatic because federal subsidies for EVs have ended completely. Germany, on the other hand, is bringing back its subsidies and won’t care where the car was built, which is great news for brands imported from China.

BYD Han L – source: BYD

Building high-tech EVs is also getting more complicated – modern electric cars are basically computers on wheels, and they need a lot of memory chips. These chips usually only make up 1% to 5% of the total cost of building the car. If the price of critical components goes up or the supply runs low, it can cause big delays – something we have witnessed for the last few years. Automakers are now working harder than ever to make sure they have a steady supply of parts so they can keep their factory lines moving and their software updated.

2026 is shaping up to be a year of big changes. The EV markets around the world are maturing, and many automakers are bringing more affordable models to customers, while others are calling it quits on electric cars. The world is slowly getting divided with entire countries taking either a pro-EV stance or going back to fossil fuels – something we did not expect to ever happen.

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