The average European car has always been a bit different than the average American car. Smaller, more fuel-efficient, cheaper—attributes deemed necessary for buyers who live in a place where space comes at a premium, and where gasoline is far more expensive.
If the sales of EVs in Europe and the US last month are anything to go by, the average European car will soon be even more different than the average American car. While EVs represent a smaller share of the market in the US, the market share for EVs across Europe is higher than ever. The landscapes are changing rapidly, folks.
Sticking with the topic of slowing EV sales in America, Dodge finally managed to legalize its Durango SRT Hellcat—a vehicle everyone expected to die three years ago—for all 50 States after it ran into some emissions issues back in September. On the opposite end of the spectrum, Renault just broke an efficiency record with its Filante open-wheeler EV.
In other news, Toyota is getting back into stage rally in America. The best part? It’s doing so with the GR Corolla. For the first time in what feels like forever, Subaru will finally have some competition. Let’s get into it.
Europe’s Car Market Is Starting To Diverge Even More
The disappearance of the federal tax credit and a shift away from nationwide emissions regulations mean the U.S. market is, in a way, turning its back on EV growth. In its place will likely be an onslaught of new plug-in hybrids and extended-range electric vehicles. Ford, knowing its buyer base for the all-electric F-150 Lightning was incredibly small and not likely to get any bigger, recently revealed an EREV version in its place.
The market is already seeing demand for EVs in America fall. While sales are about 2% higher than last year, the market share for electric cars is down to just 5.8% according to Cox, the lowest it’s been in over three years. Compare that to the European Union, which has EVs nearing a quarter of the market. From Reuters:
New car sales in Europe rose year-on-year in November for a fifth consecutive month, helped by an increase in EV registrations in markets including Germany, Italy and Spain, data from the European auto lobby ACEA showed on Tuesday.
Battery electric registrations, a proxy for sales, reached a market share of 21% in the European Union, 26% in the United Kingdom and 98% in Norway.
Unlike America, where the future of EV market share is a bit murky right now, analysts predict that electric cars will continue to take over more of the overall market in Europe, according to Reuters. This is despite the EU caving on its 2035 internal combustion ban last week. Even without that ban, the upcoming rules will be pretty strict.
As for which automakers won and lost in Europe last month, there weren’t many surprises. From Reuters:
Registrations at Volkswagen and Renault rose 4.1% and 3% year-on-year, respectively, while they fell 2.7% at Stellantis, a drop after three months of growth.
Tesla registrations fell by 11.8%, as record sales in Norway mitigated losses in other markets. They were up 221.8% at its Chinese competitor BYD. Tesla’s market share in the month was 2.1%, while BYD’s 2%.
Soon, the average European street will have mostly EVs. Compare that to America, which might have one in 10 cars be battery-electric in the next decade, if you’re lucky.
You Can Now Buy A Durango Hellcat No Matter Where You Live
Earlier this year, Dodge announced it would be bringing back the 710-horsepower Durango SRT Hellcat for the 2026 model year. The Durango Hellcat was supposed to be a one-model-year-only affair back in 2021, but it’s managed to stay in production this whole time, presumably because a supercharged V8-powered three-row SUV is about the coolest-sounding thing on the planet for a lot of Americans.
Dodge hit a snag back in September when it revealed the Durango Hellcat wouldn’t be available in all 50 States because it wasn’t certified with the latest regulations from the California Air Resources Board (CARB). As of last week, though, that’s no longer the case. The SRT Hellcat is now available to order in the United States, no matter where you live.
In addition to the new certification, Dodge has revived a color called Triple Nickel for the 2026 lineup, and added new stripe options, including carbon-fiber stripes. You know, in case the normal stripes weren’t ridiculous enough for your full-size SUVs.
Renault’s Cool Concept Sets An Efficiency Record
At the beginning of the year, Renault showed off a concept car called the Filante, with the goal of using it to break some sort of EV record in 2025. The company really waited until the last second, but it did, in fact, achieve an efficiency record. From the brand:
One challenge that Renault set itself at the beginning of 2025 was to drive an electric vehicle more than 1,000 km, with a battery the same size as Scenic’s, at realistic motorway speeds, without stopping to charge. The first attempt was scheduled in October but was called off at the last minute due to bad weather. The team finally pulled it off on 18 December at the UTAC test track in Morocco.
If their only goal had been to drive the longest possible distance between charges, the designers and experts could have fitted the car with a huge battery or driven it in eco mode at 30 km/h on average. But Renault was aiming much higher with its efficiency record: it powered Filante Record 2025 Record with a regular battery (87 kWh, like the one in Scenic E-Tech electric) and tasked the drivers with keeping its average speed of over 110 km/h. The objective: to cover more than 1,000 km in less than 10 hours, including technical stops and driver changes.
Going 626 miles in 10 hours is one thing, but to do it at highway speeds is another. It’s proof that with enough aero and drivetrain work, these huge distances are possible for an EV without having to creep along at 25 mph.
Toyota’s Going Rallying Stateside
Since 2017, Toyota’s been competing in the World Rally Championship with its Yaris hatchback. The WRC sadly doesn’t have any presence in America, but there is the American Rally Association (ARA), which puts on a national championship of its own.
Toyota, wanting to sell more sports cars here, has decided to enter a modified version of its U.S.-market-specific GR Corolla into the series, with an American driver at the helm. From Toyota:
-
TGR will newly enter the ARA National Championship from Round 2 in 2026, with the aim of developing cars on North American roads and making ever-better motorsports-bred cars.
-
The rally car based on GR Corolla will compete in the RC2 class (roughly equivalent to Rally2 level).
-
The driver will be young American Seth Quintero, who will compete in ARA in parallel with W2RC.
-
TGR’s employees will also participate as engineers and mechanics to conduct hands-on development of pit human resources.
Toyota’s entry into the sport marks the first real factory effort from a brand other than Subaru in many, many years.
What I’m Listening To While Writing TMD
The Big Question
What do you think the car landscape will look like in America compared to Europe in 10 years?
Top graphic image:
Increasingly taller and uglier crew cab trucks, now with more blinding headlights!
Who will be the first manufacturer to sell them from the factory with the Carolina squat and wide rubberband tires? Dodge is my guess.
“Going 626 miles in 10 hours is one thing, but to do it at highway speeds is another.”
Um, pretty much the only way to go 626 miles in 10 hours is to do it at highway speeds. Unless you want to putter around town for 7 hours and then go 200mph for the final 3 hours.
As a European living in America, I am always surprised at how often people think so many things can “lift and shift” between Europe and America. They cannot.
Both places have massively different cultures, economic conditions, incomes, needs, habits, you name it.
I’m sure this is incredibly hard to grasp, but guess what happens when a European has actual disposable income? Drum roll… they buy the exact same cars and houses as Americans! Truly shocking!
It’s almost as if people don’t enjoy getting taxed to death, forced to live in tiny apartments, with tiny cars, use public transport, not have a/c, etc etc. Meanwhile, morons in America are like “see? They love that in Europe, we should be more like them”
Having lived in Europe – oh yes, this. And yup – my European friends who have made it in their careers have universally moved OUT of the center city to a big house in the suburbs with the biggest car they can afford in the garage. The house isn’t AS big as here and the car is an efficient diesel wagon not a Canyonero, but it’s all the same general idea. For the most part, only the young want to live like bees in a hive. And people who don’t know any better.
Americans have an incredibly warped view of what Europeans are actually like. Of course, that is largely true of Europeans ideas of America too, LOL. Some things translate well across the pond, but many things don’t.
I think a large part is that in each case, most people only experience either side as tourists doing tourist things. That is definitely going to give a very warped view of things. The US isn’t Orlando and NYC anymore than Europe is only Paris and London. And neither is really much like what you see on TV and the movies.
I feel like we get singled out as the Mad Max-ian, ecological wasteland, but what about like Australia, and countries in Africa? I think US will look better, NY and LA will enforce more no emmissions zones, other parts of the country like Wyoming will still be prime gas powered truck territory, places like where I am in the Southeast will be a decent mix.
Western Europe(let’s be clear that’s mainly who we’re talking about) will be primarily EV, Eastern Europe will still be a big mix, as infrastructure will not be as built out.
“America! It’s better than Africa!”
Y’all should put that on a t-shirt.
WRC is the best racing. Too bad we do not have any events in the US. Dirtfish should really try to get FIA to bring an event up to the PNW where they are based.
The durago HellCat sounds over done. I want one.
Probably similar to what we currently have (mostly crossovers and pickups). Maybe a few more models transition to hybrids, maybe a few more compact and midsize pickups, maybe adding another 3 inches of beltline height to the Silverado to fit another stack of blinding LEDs, but one thing I can hedge my bet on is another 10 years of the Chevy Express.
When something is as perfectly evolved and suited to it’s intended use and market as the Chevy Express, why change it? It’s the crocodile of vehicles. Big, tough, ugly and does what it does more than good enough.
US: 95% will be 15 year old beat to shit used vehicles with underwater loans and 5% $200,000 + luxury ‘trucks’.
Europe: 75% will be small practical mostly Chinese built (or built in Chinese owned European plants), 15% will be staid “executive sedans” (due to corporate lease traditions) probably electrified. 5% will be quirky European cheap fun cars like Twingo, Ami etc. and 5% will be chauffeur driven luxo-barges.
I don’t even think it will be ten years before it looks like that.
The car landscape will look like in America compared to Europe in 10 years:
Max Max vs Star Trek
Having been to Europe a few times, the comparison is apples to oranges. Countries the size of some of our states and MUCH denser urban environments. Rapid train travel between major urban centers. A culture on a different wavelength than American life. Walking, biking and transit are daily routines. EV intrastructure is IDEAL for this environment.
Spent a week in rural Denmark and only cracked 100kph driving back to Copenhagen. It’s perfect EV conditions.
Oh you mean the cars ON THE roads between US and Europe!?!
I read the title and was thinking of the actual road surfaces. Like are we going to paint the lines pink, start driving on the left side or what. Uh yeah. The cars will still be quite different. American NEED used cars so we’ll keep driving status quo much longer than the new stuff that will come out.
I read it the same way, thinking there’d be a discussion about bike lanes or something.
Ford’s strategy to build the F150EV (and GM’s to build a HummerEV) were incredibly stupid to design a US-market-only model with little-to-no chance of export to markets where EVs have a better chance of success.
The rest of the world just looked on, aghast, wondering their plan.
Ford would have done better to create that halo car with the FordGT as an EV; it would have had no pressure to ever make money.
But shareholders have spoken, and profits are needed now. Tesla didn’t pull a their first annual profit until 10 years after the Roaster (and after introduction of the S, X, and 3) – and they had piles of money literally thrown at them.
What is Ford’s plan, besides eliminating cars and focusing on America?
I’ll say, I’ve seen quite a few Lightnings and Hummers here in exurban PNW, almost as many as Cybertrucks or Rivians. It was a great way to develop the basic EV platform and soak up some IRA bucks while they figured out how to add a genset.
A big EV commuter-truck is actually a decent proposition, and I bet “plug your house into it during power outages” closed the sale on a lot of those.
“plug your house into it during power outages” feels a lot like selling the offroad prowess of a pickup that ends up being a highway-commuter.
That’s the auto market for ya!
Look it’s not avoiding the 2 hours without electricity that makes it worth it, it’s the self satisfaction of being able to tell your neighbor “Well I never lost power”
“Let’s get into it.”
You don’t really need to say that. This isn’t YouTube. 😉
Needs to be stretched another 20minutes of inane banter before real content is discussed.
What do you think the car landscape will look like in America compared to Europe in 10 years?
Pretty much how it looks today. Pickup trucks, SUVs, and Crossovers here: tiny cars over there.
There are big cultural differences between the two and it’s not going to change in ten years.
Canyoneros as far as the eye can see.
Is it not already?
I don’t think you’re quite at the end game yet – there are still some Altimas over there if I squint a bit.
No top-shot for TMD today?
If anything, it’s going to be much more similar than it has been in the past. They are gobbling up boring egg crossovers at a similar rate to us.
Look, now, a VW Touareg is totally different from the other SUVs on the road – and manufacturers totally aren’t trying to over-saturate the market with the likes of VW T-Roc, T-Cross, Taigo, Tiguan, Tayron on the road. Let alone the Audi Q1, Q3, Q5, Q7, Q8, SEAT Ateca, Bentley Bentayga, Lamborghini Ursus, Porsche Macan & Cayenne.
They’re nothing alike.