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Europe: Plug-In Car Sales Almost Quadrupled In May 2021
Tesla Model 3 surged last month and strengthened its year-to-date lead.

Mark Kane 
By: Mark Kane
Jul 1, 2021 at 8:08am ET
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Europe enjoys high growth of plug-in electric car sales, which in May almost quadrupled year-over-year.
The total number of new passenger plug-in electric car registrations almost amounted to 178,290, which is 16% of the overall market, according to the latest report by Jose Pontes.
Sales break fifty-fifty between BEVs and PHEVs, which both noted 8% share and high growth rate.
Plug-In Electric Car Sales In Europe – May 2021

So far this year, some 796,000 passenger plug-in electric cars were registered in Europe. That's also 15% of the total market.
Sales by type:
- BEVs: about 7% of the market
- PHEVs: about 8% of the market
The most popular models
In May, a very strong monthly result was noted by the Tesla Model 3 - 8,858, which suggests also a very strong June (usually the third month of a quarter is Tesla's best).
The Model 3 is also the leader year-to-date with over 43,000 registrations and the main candidate to be the top-selling electric car in 2021, above 100,000 units.
The second best of the month and for the year is the Volkswagen ID.3 with 6,227 and 23,929 YTD. Volkswagen's first MEB-based electric car is returning to high levels, after several slower months at the beginning of the year.
In third place is the Renault ZOE (5,858 and 22,508 YTD), which also rebounds from a slow start of the year (compared to the outstanding results in 2020).
In the next two places for the month of May, we see an interesting thing. The newly launched Skoda Enyaq iV (5,464) is above its cousin - the Volkswagen ID.4 (4,922 and 18,267 YTD). It's too early to draw any conclusions, but we guess that many customers might prefer the Enyaq iV over ID.4.
The Ford Kuga PHEV (4,922) was the top-selling plug-in hybrid for the month, ahead of Volvo XC40 PHEV (4,094).
Top models last month:
- Tesla Model 3 - 8,858
- Volkswagen ID.3 - 6,227
- Renault ZOE - 5,856
- Skoda Enyaq iV - 5,464
- Volkswagen ID.4 - 4,922
Top models year-to-date:
- Tesla Model 3 - 41,302
- Volkswagen ID.3 - 23,929
- Renault ZOE - 22,508
- Volvo XC40 PHEV - 20,979
- Volkswagen ID.4 - 18,267
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Despite seeing the Tesla Model 3 in first place, and Tesla brand is among the most popular EV brands, though large automotive groups are currently selling more plug-ins (YTD):
- Volkswagen Group - 25% share
- Stellantis - 14% share
- Daimler - 12% share
- BMW - 11% share
- Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance - 9% share
Tesla noted 5.2% share so far this year.
More sales reports
Germany: Plug-In Car Sales More Than Quadrupled In May 2021
Source: CleanTechnica
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