Electric vehicle sales in Europe rise but Tesla suffers dip
New vehicle sales in Europe fell by three per cent to 966,300 units last month, according to new figures released by JATO Dynamics.
Year-to date sales are down two per cent to 1,962,850 units.
However, registrations of electric vehicles were up 26% to 164,000 units in February and have grown by 31% to 329,700 units in the first two months of the year.
Figures have also revealed a sales swing away from Tesla and towards Chinese brands. About 19,800 Chinese-produced electric vehicles were sold into European markets last month, compared to 15,700 Teslas. In same month last year, Tesla recorded 28,131 sales with accumulated EV sales from Chinese brands recorded at 23,182.
Tesla now commands just 9,6% of the market, with its year-to-date market share plummeting from 18.4% to 7.7%.
Felipe Munoz, global analyst at JATO Dynamics, said: “Tesla is experiencing a period of immense change. In addition to Elon Musk’s increasingly active role in politics and the increased competition it is facing within the EV market, the brand is phasing out the existing version the Model Y – its best-selling vehicle – in anticipation of the introduction of a new refreshed version.
“During this process, brands often experience a drop in sales before they return to normal levels, once the updated model becomes widely available.”
Backing this up, Model Y sales in February fell by 56% compared to a 14% fall in the sale of Model 3s.
