Tesla’s Reign As Europe’s Top-Selling EV Maker Is Over

• Tesla sales continued to go down in Europe in the first half of the year.
• The American EV maker recorded a 33% year-over-year drop in sales from January to June.
• Meanwhile, traditional automakers have charged ahead with solid gains in the region.

The numbers are in, and it’s not looking good for Tesla in Europe. After the first six months of this year, the American electric car maker has recorded a steep 33% drop in sales in the European Union, EFTA markets and the United Kingdom, according to preliminary sales figures from Data Force.

This has led Tesla to lose the top spot on the best-selling EV makers list in the region, where Volkswagen–the brand, not the group–is now the new king. From January to June, Tesla sold 108,878 cars in the region, while Volkswagen moved 133,465 EVs, a massive 78% year-over-year increase.

The Tesla Model Y was the best-selling EV in Europe in the first six months of this year. However, its numbers fell by over 30%.

Photo by: Tesla

In other words, Volkswagen sold 24,587 more EVs in Europe than Tesla, firmly securing its position as the leader in the region. That’s a win for legacy auto. But that’s not all.

BMW, Skoda and Renault also gained significant ground in the first half of the year. BMW is now the third-best-selling EV company in Europe, with 93,576 units sold, a 14% increase over the same period last year. 

Thanks to the massively popular Elroq and updated Enyaq, Skoda scored an incredible 146% increase in sales, leading to a total of 70,947 EVs sold from January to June. Renault, meanwhile, saw its EV sales go up 58%, mostly thanks to the retro-looking Renault 5.

Source: Data Force preliminary sales figures.

Earlier this year, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said that the company was seeing a “major rebound” in demand after its factories were put on hold in the first quarter for whatever tooling upgrades were necessary to put the updated Model Y on the market. However, that has yet to happen in the United States, Europe and China.

For what it’s worth, Tesla was the best-selling EV company in Europe in June, but that wasn’t enough to end the first half of the year in the first spot. In fact, out of the top five best-selling EV makers in June, Tesla was the only one to see a drop. With 32,605 cars sold, Tesla sales went down by 21% year-over-year in Europe. Meanwhile, Volkswagen went up 9.%, BMW by 16%, Skoda by 189% and Renault by 23%.

The best-selling EVs in Europe from January to June were the Tesla Model Y, Tesla Model 3, Volkswagen ID.4, Volkswagen ID.7 and Volkswagen ID.3.

Overall, the European EV market increased by 24% year-over-year, going from 944,858 units in the first half of 2024 to 1,177,051 this year.