Uruguay EV Sales Report: At 17.6% BEV Market Share in April, We Have a New Leader in Latin America!

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The King is dead, long live the King!

Not too long ago, I wrote about Costa Rica’s slow growth in EV adoption in recent months, saying that the rest of the region was not staying still and that should this situation maintain through 2025, the country was at risk of losing its crown as the regional (and continental) EV leader in the near future.

Well, the “near future” arrived far sooner than I expected, and in a record April, Uruguay has surpassed Costa Rica’s EV sales, both in absolute terms and (probably) as a percentage of total vehicle sales, meaning Uruguay is now the new leader in the region. And with the country boasting 17.6% BEV market share this month, this leadership is nothing to scoff at!

Market Overview

Uruguay’s BEV sales have been booming all through this year, with every month presenting explosive growth compared to a year prior. April was no exception, presenting 153% growth YoY and surpassing 900 BEVs sold for the first time.

More interesting is that this is happening amidst a static market, which fell by 2% in April. This means that not only are BEVs increasing in market share, but the net number of ICEVs is also falling: some 700 fewer ICEVs were sold in April in Uruguay compared with the year prior. This is the first time this is happening in the region as a consequence of EV adoption, as even Costa Rica saw the net number of ICEVs increase in 2024 thanks to a booming vehicle market that grew by nearly 40%.

Our readers probably know what that means: we’ve reached peak ICEV sales in Uruguay already.

Market share has been growing consistently, quadrupling from January 2024 to April 2025. Unlike with the previous record (in May 2024), when a large monthly increase was followed by a large decrease in June, this time it seems the trend is here to stay, as Uruguay has had 6 consecutive months now at or above 10% BEV market share, and the last three months have been above 13%.

The market keeps being an effective playground for BYD, which is maintaining dominant market share over the BEV segment, commanding 55% of sales in April and 57% through 2025. Following were Dongfeng and JMEV, both in the monthly and yearly rankings.

In April, we witnessed the arrival of one of the brands I most highly hold up for its potential impact in the ICEV market in the region: GAC. This brand has arrived in most countries with a no-nonsense attitude and is bringing its (admittedly limited) lineup at incredibly competitive prices. More interestingly, it has hybrids and gasoline vehicles in its portfolio, and they are more expensive than the BEVs. More than any other automaker, GAC holds the keys for a true “EV is cheaper than gas” future … at least for now.

It’s also worth mentioning the success of Dongfeng, a brand whose luck in China has been … less than stellar lately, but which has gained presence in Uruguay. It is second only to BYD, thanks especially to its affordable model: the Dongfeng Nammi ($19,000).

Model-wise, unsurprisingly, we see BYD leading in April with its popular BYD Yuan Up (which has proven a great success in every market it’s entered) and Seagull, followed by the aforementioned Dongfeng Nammi. A notable mention is due for the recently introduced Omoda E5, the JMEV EV3 (a Seagull competitor from a not very known brand), and the GAC Aion ES.

Year to date, we see no changes whatsoever in the first five spots, but we see the appearance of the Geometry E in the sixth, despite this car being missing from April’s ranking.

Final Thoughts

I have no idea how long Uruguay will sustain this growth, but right now I’m expecting EVs to make up more than 20% of sales in 2025; with some luck, perhaps we will see some +25% months later in the year. Costa Rica now has a worthy contender and will be hard pressed to recover its title, more so as it will start taxing EVs later this year.

A notable absence from the model list came from JAC. I checked the production of JAC EVs in Mexico, and it seems it’s roughly the same, with a few dozen units every month on average for each of its passenger cars (E10X, E30X, E40X), but the cars are now absent from Colombia’s market and seem to also be exiting Uruguay’s. Does this mean Carlos Slim’s bet on JAC as an EV manufacturer in Mexico failed? Is the brand now focusing on trucks only? I expect to have the answer for this question in the following months, but for now, it would seem that JAC EVs are being slowly erased from the markets where they were once pioneers.

Most markets in the region keep showing moderate-to-strong growth YoY, but Uruguay is one of the few that is also showing strong growth month on month. Such levels of growth are never sustainable for long, yet they usually bring a “new normality” that holds over time, so that the next growth cycle will depart from a far higher base.

At last, the BYD Yuan Up has proven to be a very successful vehicle despite a relatively high price (being more expensive than entry-level ICEV competitors) and a relatively small battery (45 kWh). This could indicate BEVs do not need such large batteries in developing markets to become a hit, and further opens the door for success for small-battery EVs, so long as their parent brands can gain market recognition.