The Tesla Model Y is the best-selling car of any kind in Europe right now.
May 10, 2023 at 8:53 a.m. ET
The European passenger car market expanded in March by about 26 percent year-on-year to more than 1.4 million new registrations, continuing its recovery.
The Plug-in Electric Vehicle segment expanded slightly faster, reaching the second highest monthly result ever.
According to EV volumes According to data shared by Jose Pontes, over 322,000 new electric cars were registered in Europe in March, which is 29% more than a year earlier. This is also 23 percent of the total volume.
Even more interestingly, sales of all-electric cars increased 44 percent year-over-year to approximately 224,000 new registrations. Plug-in hybrids barely increased after two months in the red.
New plug-in car registrations:
- BEV: *224,000 (up 44% y-o-y) and 16% share
- PHEV: *98,000 (up 4% year-on-year) and 7% share
- Total: 322,465 (up 29% year-on-year) and 23% share
* calculated from market share
More than 667,000 passenger electric cars have been registered in Europe so far this year, up about 18 percent from a year ago.
Add-on new car registrations year-to-date:
- BEV: about *0.44 million and a 14% stake
- PHEV: about *0.23 million and 7% share
- Total: 667,542 (18% year-on-year growth) and 21% share
* calculated from market share
For reference, more than 2.6 million new passenger electric cars are registered in Europe in 2022 (about 23 percent of the total volume).
One of the highlights in Europe was the incredible surge of the Tesla Model Y, which hit a new monthly record of 46,697 registrations, once again becoming the best-selling plug-in car (for the third time this year) and the best-selling car of any kind (almost doubling the result of the second best model – Opel Corsa).
It’s clear that high-volume local production combined with price cuts is making the difference, and it’s impressive to see an all-electric and American car on top in Europe – both in March and in Q1. What will be the response of the European car industry, which has often ignored electric cars for so many years?
The next most popular additions were the Tesla Model 3 (13,600 units, down from almost 20,000 a year ago), the Volvo XC40 (8,957, counting BEVs and PHEVs together), the Volkswagen ID.3 (8,583) and China’s MG 4 (7759) before Volkswagen ID.4 (7719).
Results last month:
- Tesla Model Y – 46,697
- Tesla Model 3 – 13,600
- Volvo XC40 (BEV + PHEV) – 8,957
- Volkswagen ID.3 – 8.583
- MG 4 – 7,759
- Volkswagen ID.4 – 7.719
- Audi Q4 e-tron – 7,033
- Peugeot e-208 – 6,459
- Ford Kuga PHEV – 5,835
- Dacia Spring – 5,621
After the first three months, the Tesla Model Y has a huge advantage over the other plug-in models, which does not require much comment.
We’re most surprised the Volkswagen ID.4 isn’t higher, but if you count it alongside the Audi Q4 e-tron and Skoda Enyaq iV (three cousins), it’s actually not too bad – potentially close to 40,000 in Q1.
Results year to date:
- Tesla Model Y – 72,487
- Volvo XC40 (BEV + PHEV) – 20,975
- Tesla Model 3 – 19,797
- Volkswagen ID.3 – 17.366
- Volkswagen ID.4 – 16.199
- Audi Q4 e-tron – 15,410
- Dacia Spring – 14,299 pcs
- Fiat 500 electric – 13,712
- Peugeot e-208 – 13,314
- MG 4 – 12,783
Tesla’s recent surge has allowed the brand to increase its market share to over 14 percent in the plug-in segment (and much more in the all-electric segment), as well as jump from fifth to second position among automotive groups, ahead of Stellantis.
Leading plugin brands (year-to-date sharing):
- Tesla – 14.2%
- Volkswagen – 7.9%
- Mercedes-Benz – 7.6%
- BMW – 7.4%
- Volvo – 6.5%
Most Popular Carpools With Plugins (year-to-date sharing):
- Volkswagen Group – 19.1% share (Volkswagen brand 7.9%)
- Tesla – 14.2%
- Stellar – 13.7%
- BMW Group – 9.0% share (BMW brand 7.4%)
- Geely–Volvo – 8.9%
- Mercedes-Benz Group (Mercedes-Benz brand with 7.6%)