Tesla’s share of the critical European battery electric vehicle market collapsed in the first month of 2021, and China has taken Europe’s first place in the electric vehicle race, according to new research.
Tesla TSLA,
The track record in Europe is on the decline. The American automaker delivered 1,619 battery electric vehicles to 18 key European markets in January, representing 3.5% of all battery electric vehicles registered that month, according to a report based on public data from the automotive analyst. Matthias schmidt. In 2020, Tesla delivered 1,977 vehicles in January, more than 5% market share.
Those 18 markets include the European Union states, minus 13 Central and Eastern European countries, as well as the United Kingdom, Norway, Iceland and Switzerland.
Schmidt called Tesla’s performance in January “consistently low,” noting that the company’s European delivery schedule sees peak volumes at the end of each quarter. However, the analyst noted that Tesla’s continuous 12-month volumes have now lagged behind Hyundai 005380,
and Kia 000270,
which are now the third most popular electric vehicle group in Europe.
Tesla comfortably topped the European electric vehicle charts in 2019. It delivered more than 109,000 vehicles that year, representing 31% of the region’s battery electric vehicle market. But the tide turned in 2020, with Tesla falling behind the two Volkswagen Group VOW brands,
and the alliance between Renault RNO,
Nissan 7201,
and Mitsubishi 8058,
Last year, Tesla accounted for just 13% of the European market despite a smaller proportional decrease in the number of vehicles it delivered, around 10%, from 109,000 in 2019 to almost 98,000 in 2020.
According to Schmidt, who publishes the European Electric Car Report, it was the introduction of emissions targets and the specter of massive fines that accelerated the battle of European automakers against Tesla for dominance.
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More generally, in January, China overtook Europe to claim its crown as the world’s largest market for electric vehicles. In January, 179,000 battery and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles were registered in China, compared with 110,000 in Europe.
The momentum in China comes after a remarkable year for Europe. There were 1.33 million electric vehicle registrations in Europe in 2020, topping the 1.25 million in China, amid an accelerating push to increase the adoption of electric vehicles by European governments and the supercharging of demand for the consumers.
China is home to a strong domestic electric vehicle sector, including manufacturers Nio NIO,
Xpeng XPEV,
and BYD 1211,
Schmidt’s report shows that the Volkswagen Group, which makes VW, Audi, Skoda, Seat and Porsche, remains the most popular battery electric vehicle group in Europe, with more than 22% of the market share after delivering 10,193 vehicles. .
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He is closely followed by Stellantis STLA,
a group formed earlier this year through the merger of PSA, which included Peugeot and Citroën, and Fiat Chrysler. Stellantis delivered 9,005 vehicles.
Behind Stellantis are Hyundai and Kia, increasingly popular in Europe, delivering more than 7,087 vehicles. That puts the Korean group ahead of the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance, which delivered 6,018 cars, although Renault’s Zoe remained the most popular battery-electric vehicle in Europe in January.
Then comes the owner of Mercedes Daimler DAI,
BMW BMW,
and Volvo VOLV.B,
that delivered more battery electric vehicles than Tesla in the first month of the year.
Germany remained the largest market in Europe for electric vehicles. The 16,315 battery electric vehicles registered in the country in January were more than the totals of the next two largest markets, France and the United Kingdom, combined.