Photo: Volkswagen
How can you tell the EV revolution is at full speed? Well, one way is to hear your father-in-law tell you, completely out of the blue, his next car will be electric (true story), while another is to look at the European car sales figures for December 2020.
The Volkswagen ID.3 had its market release last September, but over the short period of time it was on sale, it managed to climb to the third spot in the overall EV 2020 sales. It trailed only the Renault ZOE (admittedly, by a lot) and the Tesla Model 3. However, both of these models have had eight more months of exposure than VW's battery-powered hatchback, so its performance is truly spectacular.
Even more sensational was what the ID.3 did during last year's final month. In December, Volkswagen's first electric vehicle developed on the MEB platform managed an almost unbelievable second overall position (with 27,997 units), behind only brand-mate and all-time best-seller, the VW Golf (30,073 units). Funnily enough, third place was also taken by an EV, the Tesla Model 3 (24,567 units).
The data was compiled by JATO and reflects the evolution of 27 of Europe's most important markets. Compared to the entirety of last year, December was actually a pretty good month of car sales, reporting only a 3.8 percent decrease compared to December 2019.
How is that good, you ask? It's all a matter of perspective. Yes, it registered a decline, but it's a minor one compared to what happened throughout the entire year as the pandemic-ridden 2020 brought a 24 percent drop in sales over 2019. With just 11.94 million cars registered, 2020 brought the lowest volume for the European market since 1993, and let's not forget we've been through a financial crisis during these almost three decades.
Back to the star of the moment, the Volkswagen ID.3, it'll be interesting to see whether it will continue this good trend into 2021. With January rapidly coming to an end, we should have the first figures in no more than a week. It's pretty clear that demand for VW's model is strong, so the real question now is whether the Zwickau factory can ramp up the supply.
Even more sensational was what the ID.3 did during last year's final month. In December, Volkswagen's first electric vehicle developed on the MEB platform managed an almost unbelievable second overall position (with 27,997 units), behind only brand-mate and all-time best-seller, the VW Golf (30,073 units). Funnily enough, third place was also taken by an EV, the Tesla Model 3 (24,567 units).
The data was compiled by JATO and reflects the evolution of 27 of Europe's most important markets. Compared to the entirety of last year, December was actually a pretty good month of car sales, reporting only a 3.8 percent decrease compared to December 2019.
How is that good, you ask? It's all a matter of perspective. Yes, it registered a decline, but it's a minor one compared to what happened throughout the entire year as the pandemic-ridden 2020 brought a 24 percent drop in sales over 2019. With just 11.94 million cars registered, 2020 brought the lowest volume for the European market since 1993, and let's not forget we've been through a financial crisis during these almost three decades.
Back to the star of the moment, the Volkswagen ID.3, it'll be interesting to see whether it will continue this good trend into 2021. With January rapidly coming to an end, we should have the first figures in no more than a week. It's pretty clear that demand for VW's model is strong, so the real question now is whether the Zwickau factory can ramp up the supply.
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