Latin America EV Gross sales Report: With Over 200,000 Models Offered in Q3, EVs Now Stand at 12% Market Share!

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By means of 2026, EVs have gained vital momentum all around the world (protected for the US), and Latin America has been no exception. Gross sales grew by virtually 140% within the third quarter, and clock in at a really wholesome 120% progress by way of 2026, bringing the yearly complete to greater than half 1,000,000 items. If this pattern continues, it’s all however sure we are going to surpass 700,000 items by the tip of the yr, and maybe even get to 800,000.

One other attention-grabbing little bit of trivia is that gross sales reached 220,000 items within the third quarter, not too far behind the USA’s 266,000. In principle, this implies it must be potential for LatAm to surpass complete US EV gross sales as early as Q1 2027 … although, I’d be a lot happier if the USA’s market begins rising strongly once more and thus Latin America can’t get forward.

Now, to be truthful, the US is way more BEV-heavy (242,000 items offered, vs 127,000 in LatAm), whereas Latin America prefers PHEVs to a better diploma (93,000 items offered vs 44,000 within the US), however, nonetheless, these are spectacular outcomes for a area total a lot poorer than the US, and with a car market round a 3rd of the scale. For over a decade, it was the richest international locations on the earth that led EV adoption, however — as many people predicted on this very web site — that has now modified.

Let’s take a look at the numbers!

Market overview

As talked about earlier, complete EV gross sales reached 220,000 items, surpassing for the primary time the 200,000 mark and rising a wholesome 140% YoY, and a powerful 17% from Q2. BEVs grew sooner than PHEVs (146% vs 130%), and thus now signify 57.5% of all EV gross sales within the area, barely beneath the 58% consequence for Q2.

Market share grew to 12%, up from 10.7% in Q2 and 5.5% in Q3 final yr, a reasonably robust consequence. This introduced market share above 10% by way of 2026, 5.9% BEV and 4.3% PHEV.

Latin America’s total car market is rising at charges of round 10% yearly, however because of robust EV progress, combustion-based powertrains (HEV, MHEV and ICEV) are stagnant: they fell by 3.7% final quarter, and barely grew by 3.1% this one, that means it’s very possible that we’re reaching “Peak Combustion” in Latin America and the market will solely go down from 2027 onwards.

Gross sales smart, we now have a reasonably steady checklist, with Brazil being the unsurprising winner, adopted by Mexico and Colombia, simply as in Q2. Uruguay follows, however then we now have a brand new rising star: Ecuador, which almost reached 5,000 BEVs offered final quarter! Costa Rica, Chile, and Argentina shut the highest 8 and make up all of the international locations with over 1.000 quarterly BEV gross sales.

PHEV gross sales are way more diversified, although. Brazil, in fact, leads once more, however following come Mexico and Argentina, with Colombia in 4^th place and Ecuador in 5^th.

Market share: once more, we now have a reasonably fixed checklist, with the primary 8 positions unchanged. Uruguay, unsurprisingly, leads the area with a really robust 50.7% EV market share (45.7% BEV), adopted by Costa Rica, Colombia, Ecuador, and Brazil. Notable point out to Paraguay, the sixth nation in our area to succeed in 10% EV market share by way of 1 / 4, however on this case because of PHEVs.

Drivers of progress

This has been an eventful yr because of Donald’s doubtful protection choices, however whilst excessive oil costs have been driving large EV adoption and/or large ICEV crashes all around the world, I really feel the state of affairs in Latin America isn’t as clear minimize.

Within the US and Europe, gas costs have gone up by round 40–50%, not less than within the case of gasoline. Now, costs have gone up equally in some international locations in Latin America, together with Panama, Paraguay and Perú, however in lots of others, like Brazil, Colombia and Mexico, it has barely moved, both due to vital subsidies — direct or oblique — to take care of costs, or as a result of it was already costly earlier than the conflict and the federal government didn’t make any changes to its value.

One would assume that the international locations most affected by excessive gas costs could be on the forefront of the EV transition, however no: the biggest will increase in EV gross sales solely partially observe gasoline costs. For instance: Panama and Perú are nonetheless lagging behind the area regardless of having the very best improve within the area (>50% in each instances), whereas Colombia and Brazil are sprinting forward regardless of comparatively steady gas costs. What offers?

The reply, I imagine, is linked to EV costs and the way they examine with their ICEV competitors. Sure, I do know the TCO is an important metric, however proof in our markets level to the sticker value being the principle driver of adoption. The instances of Brazil and Colombia on one hand, and Peru and Panama on the opposite, exemplify this very properly:

Brazil and Colombia have had fairly steady gas costs, up round 10% or much less for the reason that conflict began, but each have booming markets, up 160% and 190%, respectively, with EV market share getting shut to twenty%. In the meantime, Panama and Peru have seen gasoline costs spike over 50% from their pre-war prices, but the previous solely confirmed a meager 57% progress in September, and the latter, although clocking in at a extra spectacular 270% YoY, stays at a disappointing 1.3% market share.

The principle distinction has to do with the character of the market. In Brazil and Colombia, combustion autos are comparatively costly — in no small half because of tariffs to guard native trade — and EVs have successfully reached value parity with their combustion counterparts. In the meantime, in Panama and Per,u EVs are simply as low cost if not cheaper than in Brazil or Colombia, however combustion automobiles are considerably cheaper, with some entry-level fashions at or beneath USD$10.,00. This makes prospects hesitant to attempt the brand new applied sciences by the straightforward logic that even when the EV will save some huge cash in the long term, $6,000 will purchase so much of fuel.

And in Peru, that is significantly related insofar as gas-mobiles from Chinese language manufacturers are very fashionable. Changan, Jetour, Geely, and JAC collectively account for 20% of the Peruvian market largely because of their hyper-affordable combustion automobiles, and for the reason that Chinese language gas-mobile market is collapsing, it’s possible these manufacturers would moderately maintain it like this for a couple of extra months to allow them to transfer a number of the stock they gained’t be capable of promote at dwelling earlier than betting all of it on EVs.

On the whole, this tracks for many markets, the place EV costs in comparison with conventional combustion automobiles are in all probability probably the most related issue to maintain observe of. And naturally, gas costs do have an affect, nevertheless it appears it’s moderately restricted in comparison with, for instance, what we’re seeing in Europe.

However the classes are clear: Wish to enhance EV gross sales? Both make them cheaper, or make gas-mobiles dearer.

Ultimate ideas

Originally of this yr, I used to be hopeful we might see 10% market share within the fourth quarter, usually the very best within the yr. We went previous that in Q2, and at 12%, we’re sitting far past what I thought-about possible solely 10 months in the past.

But, there’s nonetheless a protracted path forward. Apart from the 5 main markets, we’re but to see a rustic getting constant BEV market share above 5%, and several other massive markets — Chile, Argentina, and Mexico — are nonetheless lagging. PHEVs have raised the bar in a number of international locations, Paraguay most vital of all, however we might moderately see extra BEVs.

This isn’t to be overtly pessimistic. The outcomes thus far are nice, significantly better than we might’ve anticipated even a yr in the past. However as issues enhance, the bar rises, and I’m now ready to see the second after we will see 20% market share (Q3 2027?) or when e-truck gross sales will begin to ramp up (2027? 2028?).

What do you guys assume?