Brazil EV Sales Report: In February, For 5 Months In A Row, EV Sales Surpassed 10,000

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Last Updated on: 22nd March 2025, 01:17 am

EV sales in February grew by 55% year over year in Brazil. The country broke record after record. In 2024, it sold more than 100,000 EVs, making it one of the few countries worldwide to have reached that number. In February 2025, it sold over 10,000 EVs for the fifth month in a row; and for the third month in a row, Brazil achieved an EV market share of over 5% (5.4% in December, 6% in January, 5.6% in February), making it the fourth most advanced Latin American country in the path towards electrification!

Market Overview

As Brazil market exploded in late 2023 and early 2024, and we had outrageous headlines talking about 1,100% growth year on year (YoY), it was clear at some point growth would have to moderate somewhat. That time seems to have come now, but even so, 45% growth from a relatively high base seems like very good news, and more so as Brazil has been able to consistently maintain over 5% market share in the last few months. In an overall market just shy of 200,000 units (not including motorcycles), EV sales seem to have stabilized in the short term around 10,000 units a month:

Brazil’s market remains heavily skewed towards PHEVs, something I’ve already commented on. Brazil, having bet big on flexi-fuel engines (capable of running on ethanol or ethanol-gasoline mixtures), and by far the largest country in the region as far as landmass, is naturally going to be more interested in PHEVs than the rest of Latin America.

Market share has been steadily increasing, even if the times of meteoric growth seem to be over (April 23 to January 24). My bet, however, is on high growth returning in the near future as BYD, Chery, and GWM start churning out their BEVs and PHEVs in the coming months.

Brazil also has a category for “flexi-fuel HEVs,” which even if not EVs by any metric, could still make a significant difference as far as oil consumption goes. However, the best-case scenario for ethanol is to be paired with PHEVs and long-range EREVs, as that would allow for electric-only use in the cities (powered by Brazil’s increasingly clean generation) and for ethanol use in hyper-efficient powertrains during longer trips.

BYD remains the dominant brand in this market despite the delays in Camaçari, commanding an amazing 77% of the BEV market share in February:

PHEVs are harder to determine, as many brands have models that can be either HEV or PHEV, but since BYD has no HEVs, we know for certain it sold nearly 3,500 PHEVs, or 59% of all PHEVs sold in Brazil during February. In this month, BYD also got the entire podium for itself, and even the 4^th position thanks to the BYD Dolphin:

Year to date, BYD maintains an amazing 71% BEV and 60% of PHEV sales. It’s important to note that brand rankings focus on BEV sales exclusively, while Brazil’s official data mixes PHEVs and HEVs, making it very difficult to calculate the exact amount each brand sold (aside from BYD and Volvo which have only PHEVs in their line-up):

Model-wise, BYD once again got the entire top 4 for itself, but GWM gets ahead of Volvo thanks to the ORA 03:

(As a sidenote, all models that can be sold as an HEV and a PHEV, including the Haval H6 and the Chery Tiggo, are missing from these rankings).

Final Thoughts

Three years ago (in February 2022), at 0.8% market share, Brazil’s EV market may as well have not existed. Two years ago, it doubled to 1.5%, and a year ago, it nearly tripled to 4.5%, making Brazil one of the leading countries in the region. But this year, at 5.6%, market share has grown by a mere 29%, not bad by any means, but far below the impressive records of 2024. Market share did reach 6% in January, yet the path to 10% seems to be taking longer than I expected.

A large part of this, no doubt, is the end of the exemption EVs previously had on tariffs. Brazil is a very protected market, and once this benefit was phased out, the cost of EVs increased. This further increases the importance of locally produced EVs, yet the Chinese seem to be taking their sweet time: GWM is not producing the ORA 03 locally, instead focusing on the Haval H6, mostly in a hybrid presentation (though it’s also offered as a plug-in hybrid). Chery is producing the entire Chery Tiggo lineup, but full ICEVs and HEVs remain much more affordable than the PHEV variants (the ICEV Tiggo 7 can be purchased from USD$25,500, the PHEV version starts at $42,000), and the fully electric EQ7 is not even being offered, much less being built there. Also, BYD, which was supposed to start building the Song and the Dolphin Mini in the country, has faced delays after an investigation opened into mistreatment and abuses towards the workers building the company (something that there has been no new information about), but the brand remains committed to start production in 2025.

Yet I must remind myself (and our dear readers) that only two months have passed since Brazil’s all-time EV sales record (December 2024), and that the highest market share ever was reached last January. The forces fueling the transition to EVs may not be pressing as hard as they were last year, but they exist nonetheless, and eventually local production will begin and EV adoption will enter a second wave of rapid growth.

And once that happens, Brazil will also fuel EV adoption in those countries who import their vehicles from there. Therein lies the importance of Brazil for the future of electrification in Latin America.