Tesla’s participation in the critical European battery electric vehicle market collapsed in the first month of 2021, and China took first place in Europe in the EV race, according to new research.
Tesla TSLA,
trajectory in Europe is declining. The U.S. automaker delivered 1,619 battery-powered electric vehicles to 18 major European markets in January, representing 3.5% of all battery-powered electric vehicles registered that month, according to a report based on public data from automotive analysts. Matthias Schmidt. In 2020, Tesla delivered 1,977 vehicles in January – more than 5% of the market.
These 18 markets include the states of the European Union – minus 13 countries in Central and Eastern Europe – as well as the United Kingdom, Norway, Iceland and Switzerland.
Schmidt called Tesla’s January performance “consistently low”, noting that the company’s delivery schedule in Europe peaks in volume at the end of each quarter. However, the analyst noted that Tesla’s 12-month bearing volumes lagged behind the Hyundai 005380,
and Kia 000270,
which are now the third most popular EV group in Europe.
Tesla comfortably led the European EV 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 changed in 2020, with Tesla lagging behind both brands of the Volkswagen VOW Group,
and the Renault RNO alliance,
Nissan 7201,
and Mitsubishi 8058,
Last year, Tesla represented just 13% of the European market, despite a minor proportional decline in the number of vehicles delivered – about 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 spectrum of heavy fines that accelerated the battle of European automakers against Tesla for dominance.
Required reading: Tesla is in decline, SUVs are the kings and most perceptions of the world’s largest electric vehicle market
More broadly, in January, China overtook Europe to claim its crown as the world’s largest electric vehicle market. There were 179,000 battery electric and hybrid electric vehicles registered in China in January, compared with 110,000 in Europe.
The momentum in China comes after a year of prominence for Europe. There were 1.33 million electric vehicle registrations in Europe in 2020, reaching 1.25 million in China, amid accelerated pressure to increase the adoption of electric vehicles by European governments and overfed demand from consumers.
China has 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-powered electric vehicle group in Europe, with more than 22% market share after delivering 10,193 vehicles.
Most: Audi bets on the luxury market in a new electric vehicle venture with China’s oldest automaker
It 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, which delivered more than 7,087 vehicles. This puts the Korean group ahead of the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance, which delivered 6,018 cars, although Renault’s Zoe remained Europe’s most popular battery-powered electric vehicle in January.
Then comes the owner of Mercedes, Daimler DAI,
BMW BMW,
and Volvo VOLV.B,
which delivered more battery-powered electric vehicles than Tesla in the first month of the year.
Germany remained the largest electric vehicle market in Europe. The 16,315 battery-powered electric vehicles registered in the country in January were more than the total of the next two largest markets, France and the United Kingdom, combined.