9:09 am, October 28, 2022
Tesla’s Model Y is Europe’s best-selling new car for the first time, latest figures show.
The luxury EV shifted 29,367 units in September, placing it well clear of the second-placed Peugeot 208, which sold 19,601.
The incredible performance is a 227 per cent upswing on the same month last year for the SUV, which accounted for almost three per cent of all the new cars registered in Europe last month, according to automotive market researchers Jato Dynamics.
It added to the good news for Tesla boss Elon Musk, who has just completed his takeover of Twitter.
September was a strong month for electrified models generally, with the likes of Model Y stablemate the Model 3, Volkswagen ID.4 and Fiat 500 Electric also seeing huge hikes.
Overall, there were 160,869 battery-electric vehicles (BEVs) registered in September, with volume increasing by 15 per cent.
They accounted for 15.6 per cent of all registrations – the second-largest monthly market share after December 2021.
Excluding Tesla, MG was among the top 10 brands, boasting the highest percentage of BEVs as part of total registrations at 42 per cent. Renault followed with 18 per cent.
There was also more demand for plug-in hybrids – of which the Ford Kuga was the most popular with 5,049 registrations, followed by the Kia Niro and Kia Sportage.
The volume of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles increased by seven per cent versus September 2021, with 87,712 registered units.
Jato Dynamics attributed the increased market share for EVs to falling production figures elsewhere.
Felipe Munoz, a global analyst at the company, said: ‘The market lost one million units per quarter over the last three years.
‘While a catastrophe in terms of volume relative to production capacity, the majority of OEMs have now properly adapted to this new reality.’
In September, the European new car market as a whole saw growth for the second consecutive month, following the 3.5 per cent increase in total volume recorded in August.
The number of registered units reached 1,038,481 – a 7.5 per cent increase from 965,595 in September 2021.
