Volkswagen has regained the lead in electric vehicle sales in Germany in the first seven months of the year, overtaking Tesla and a trio of premium domestic brands – Mercedes-Benz, Audi and BMW.
VW outperformed Tesla in terms of electric vehicle registrations from January to July due to the added volume of new models, especially the ID. The Buzz passenger van and its commercial variant ID. Buzz Cargo.
According to the German Federal Motor Vehicle Administration (KBA), Volkswagen sold 41,475 electric vehicles in Germany through July, while Tesla sold 40,289 units. Each of the two brands sold more than twice as many electric vehicles as Mercedes-Benz, which took third place with 20,613 registrations.
Audi and BMW were fourth and fifth with 16,786 and 15,987 registrations, respectively, and Hyundai was sixth with 15,411 registrations.
Fully electric Volkswagen ID. Buzz has been attracting increased customer interest since its launch last year as production increases. The automaker sold 2815 IDs. Buzz EVs in Germany in the first seven months, including 536 in July alone.
While ID. The Buzz accounted for less than 7 percent of the brand’s electric vehicle registrations in Germany during this period, and it was probably the model that tipped the scales in Volkswagen’s favor.
As expected, the Volkswagen ID.4 and its coupe-style brother, the ID.5, including their boosted GTX variants, accounted for the majority of the brand’s registered electric vehicles, totaling 22,405 units through July. Next was the smaller ID.3 hatchback with 13,647 registrations, while the e-up city car had 2,943 registrations.
As for Tesla, the Model Y accounted for almost 75 percent of the brand’s registrations in Germany – 29,829 in seven months. The Model 3 took second place with 9,045 registrations, while the Model S and Model X were far behind with 855 and 494 registrations, respectively.
The leader in the registration of Mercedes-Benz electric vehicles was the compact crossover EQA with 7813. It is also interesting to note that Chinese-owned brands are growing rapidly in the German market: SAIC’s MG gained 11,638 registrations, Geely’s Polestar 4210, and BYD 632.
In total, 268,926 first registrations of electric vehicles were registered in Germany from January to July, compared to 1.64 million new registrations of internal combustion engine models.
