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Tesla Model 3 Drives EV Growth in Europe, SUVs Are Also Popular

Elon Musk first talked about the Model 3 to great lengths during a 2006 interview, and a decade later, the real deal was unveiled to much acclaim. The electric sedan is so popular that not even the Nissan Leaf can dream of keeping the world’s best-selling EV title.
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Photo: Novitec
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2019 has been the Palo Alto-based automaker’s best sales year to date, and the Model 3 is the main driver behind these results. On the Old Continent, the Model 3 was the third best-selling nameplate in December, only bested by the Renault Clio and Volkswagen Golf.

JATO Dynamics has the numbers, and the difference isn’t that considerable. The Model 3 accounted for 22,118 examples, the French supermini sold 27,516 units, and the German superstar enjoyed 30,652 deliveries during the final month of 2019. Looking at the bigger picture, Tesla is listed 21st in terms of overall sales with 24,332 units while VW leads the pack with 134,178 units. Still, these numbers don’t tell the whole story…

The year-over-year growth favors Tesla by a long margin, namely 368 percentage points as opposed to 14 percent for the German juggernaut. The smart brand, Mazda, and Suzuki are also growing while Jeep, Opel, and Vauxhall declined in December 2019.

SUVs totaled 524,500 registrations during the final month of the previous year, representing 42 percent of total sales and an increase of 42 percent over the SUVs that were sold in December 2018. The Volkswagen Group, as expected, thoroughly leads this segment as well.

Tesla continues to have an enormous impact on registrations at the end of each quarter and the Model 3 has put sedans back in the spotlight,” said global analyst Felipe Munoz. “The question is whether this trend is sustainable, or will electric SUVs hinder the popularity of the Tesla Model 3 in the coming months?”

In the short and long terms, electric vehicles are poised to grow their market share in Europe for many reasons. Tesla prepares to open the Gigafactory in Berlin to localize production, the European Union is getting extremely stringent with emissions regulations, many governments offer loads of money to those buying a BEV or FCV instead of ICE vehicles, and the list goes on.

Norway buys the most BEVs in Europe, and in 2025, Norway will also prohibit the sale of gasoline and diesel vehicles.
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About the author: Mircea Panait
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After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well.
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