- The Europe-wide EV market has soared to new sales highs, with 570,943 fully-electric cars registered in the first quarter of 2025 across Europe — up 28% on 2024’s Q1 figure of 447,278.
- The rise comes despite a significant drop in Tesla EV sales, with OEMs like Volkswagen picking up the electric slack.
- This change has now cemented Volkswagen as the largest seller of electric cars in Europe, and other brands are poised to overtake Tesla in EV sales too.
EV registrations in Europe reach new highs
The new figures, gathered by automotive market data specialists JATO Dynamics, highlights the continuously strong growth in the European EV market, with March 2025 becoming the second best month on record for EV registrations, with 240,891 fully-electric cars registered across the region in the month — accounting for around 16.9% of total registrations that month.
The rise of Chinese manufacturers was also apparent, with registrations rising from 80,460 in Q1 of 2024 to 153,646 in Q1 of 2025 — with a significant proportion of these vehicles being either hybrid or fully-electric models. This rise comes despite the implementation EU-specific import tariffs against China-made EVs.
Significant year-on-year growth is also being seen, with 570,943 fully-electric cars registered across Europe in the first three months of the year. That’s up 28% on the same period for 2024, where approximately 447,278 new electric cars were registered. This level of growth will be encouraging for manufacturers hoping to comply with various ZEV mandates in place, such as the UK’s 2030 deadline and the European Union’s 2035 deadline.
The data also highlights a significant turning point for Tesla, with many Europeans shunning the brand in favour of EV rivals, after Elon Musk’s new foray into politics. Historically the best selling EV brand in Europe, Tesla has now been overtaken by Volkswagen, which registered 65,679 EVs in Q1 of 2025 — compared to Tesla’s 53,237, which was also down 38% compared to Q1 of 2024.
Despite that, and likely down to Tesla’s relatively small model offering compared to other manufacturers, the Tesla Model Y was still the most registered EV model in Q1 of 2025, followed in second place by the Tesla Model 3 and in third place by the Volkswagen ID.4. Even so, registrations of both cars were down compared to Q1 of 2024, while registrations of rivals such as the Volkswagen ID.4 and BMW iX1 continue to rise. Time will tell whether Tesla can launch a PR offensive to regain sales of the Model 3 and Model Y in the region.
Felipe Munoz, Global Analyst at JATO Dynamics, commented on Tesla’s figures:
“As the brand continues to deal with a host of PR issues in addition to the changeover of the Model Y, Tesla is now relying on the Model 3 to offset the loses. Despite the controversy surrounding the brand’s CEO and the limited availability of the new Model Y, Tesla continues to perform well as the most popular EV brand in Europe. Its success, amid these challenges, provides an indication of what European consumers are looking for in an EV.”
It’s not just Europe where Tesla has seen its top sales crown taken. Taking into account sales and registration figures, BYD recently overtook Tesla in terms of BEV sales too, with the Chinese brand fast becoming an EV world leader. In Europe, however, BYD still stands as the 13th largest EV manufacturer by registrations, with brands such as Kia, Hyundai, and BMW ahead for now.
