(Reuters) - Global sales of fully electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles rose for a seventh consecutive month in November, jumping 32% year on year for a third consecutive record high, data from market research firm Rho Motion showed on Friday.

China continued to lead sales growth, accounting for almost 70% of total EV sales in the month, while registrations in Europe showed a marginal decline.

WHY IT'S IMPORTANT

The electric car market is undergoing critical transformation as incremental demand and production in China threaten EV markets elsewhere. Europe, for instance, is struggling to contend with production costs, new emissions targets and the rising competition.

Automakers in Europe and America say growing trade tensions, CO2 rules and the removal of incentives in some countries affect prices and put thousands of jobs on the line.

BY THE NUMBERS

Global sales of EVs - whether fully electric or plug-in hybrids - were up 32.3% at 1.83 million in November, Rho Motion data showed.

Sales in China were up 50% at 1.27 million vehicles. 

In the United States and Canada, EV sales were up 16.8% at 0.17 million, while Europe had sales of 0.28 million, down slightly year on year but up 7.7% from October.

In the rest of the world, sales were flat against November 2023.

KEY QUOTES

"China certainly is in line with expectations," Rho Motion data manager Charles Lester told Reuters, adding that government incentives pushed EV sales further.

"Penetration has been around about 50% for the last few months now."

CONTEXT

China's total November car sales grew 16.6%, the highest growth since January, while domestic champion BYD is set to exceed its global annual sales goal and overtake Ford and Honda ( HMC ).