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Volkswagen overtook Tesla as Europe's top EV seller in 2025
- wqaatwt 8mo agoThat’s also just Volkswagen the brand. If you add up VW, Skoda, Cupra etc. its not even remotely close and they overtook Tesla a while ago..
- seg_lol 8mo agoI don't think Americans understand how large Volkswagen is. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volkswagen_Group https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volkswagen_Group https://www.volkswagen-group.com/en/brands-and-brand-groups-15811 https://www.volkswagen-group.com/en/brands-and-brand-groups-...
- breve 8mo agoEuropean EV sales by auto group per quarter: https://eu-evs.com/marketShare/ALL/Groups/Line/All-time-by-Quarters https://eu-evs.com/marketShare/ALL/Groups/Line/All-time-by-Q...
- ranguna 8mo agoThere's no BYD in those charts?
- AndrewDucker 8mo agoIt's only showing the top 8 groups. BYD are presumably part of the missing percentage (show it as a bar graph to see how much isn't covered). Looking at the data in more detail, BYD are selling about half of Tesla. (85k across Europe in 2025 vs 185k for Tesla)
- runroader 8mo agohttps://www.bike-ev.com/news/cars/byds-270-europe-sales-surge-in-2025-outpaces-teslas-27-decline-closing-the-gap-on-market-leadership/ https://www.bike-ev.com/news/cars/byds-270-europe-sales-surg... But these numbers don't split out only EVs. So assuming these numbers are correct, BYD would be below even Geeley which seems... odd. It's probably availability bias, but I see BYD cars every day and that's not true for Geely.
- bzzzt 8mo agoDepends on the country (I presume you're in the EU). In the Netherlands, there are loads of Geely vehicles (Volvo, Polestar, Lynk&co and the occasional Zeekr) on the road while BYD is relatively rare (except for city busses).
- SideburnsOfDoom 8mo agoLondon, UK: BYD was rare, but is rapidly growing now. Expect similar in the EU. Zeekr is coming. Polestar/Geely is there and the new models are popular for small-volume expensive cars. MG (owned by SAIC) is another new entrant with low price and high volume. Kia/Hyundai vehicles are also common for a long time.
- rsynnott 8mo agoWhich country? It's surprisingly variable. Note that Geely owns Volvo (or, at least, Volvo Car; the company that makes HGVs is separate) and Polestar; you won't see much under their own brand.
- runroader 8mo agoWell that would explain it, plenty of Polestars around; I guess I knew somewhere in my mind that they owned Volvo/Polestar now but I totally forgot when writing that
- rsynnott 8mo agoFor all the press, BYD isn't actually that big in Europe. As you can see, Geely (another Chinese brand, which gets very little press) is actually bigger. If you look at the data for Spain, where they're quite big, you'll see them, but they're not getting into the top 8 for Western Europe as a whole (which is what this site shows).
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- asplake 8mo agoToyota’s absence is an embarrassment. Shocking failure of strategy.
- breve 8mo agoToyota is a car company. Toyota sells cars. Toyota has sold more cars than any other automaker for the last six years straight: https://asia.nikkei.com/business/automobiles/toyota-remained-top-automaker-by-sales-for-6th-year-in-2025 https://asia.nikkei.com/business/automobiles/toyota-remained... Toyota had record sales in 2025: https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/toyota-retains-top-auto-crown-2025-with-record-sales-2026-01-29/ https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/toyota... Toyota's strategy has worked.
- rsynnott 8mo agoI think they may catch up quite quickly. In Ireland, I'm suddenly seeing huge numbers of bZ4X, particularly as taxis; Toyota has a tremendous amount of brand loyalty, and I'm fairly sure that there are a lot of people who were waiting to buy an electric car until they could buy a _Toyota_ electric car.
- magicalhippo 8mo agoHere in Norway they didn't want to send the bZ4K to a large cold weather range test recently performed[1]. Suzuki, which has a model based on the Toyota Urban Cruiser, disappointed quite a lot, with lowest range of those tested at 224 km (140 miles) and a 40% deviance from WLTP (best ones had 30% deviance). Maybe decent in warmer climates, but probably not something for us further north. On top was the Lucid Air, with 520 km (323 miles). The test started at -20C (-4F) and ended up at -30C (-22F), so the cars that went the furthest had it tougher. [1]: https://www.tek.no/nyheter/nyhet/i/d4mMkA/verdens-stoerste-rekkeviddetest-gjennomfoert-disse-gjorde-det-best-i-sprengkulda https://www.tek.no/nyheter/nyhet/i/d4mMkA/verdens-stoerste-r...
- ablation 8mo agoThe Skoda Enyaq (VRS model specifically) is the best EV I've driven/travelled in by quite some margin. Exceptionally good. I mention it because VAG group.
- tasuki 8mo agoIn what way is Škoda Enyaq the best?
- ablation 8mo agoBy nearly every subjective measure I can think of: comfort, cabin finish, general external aesthetics, performance, driving enjoyment, infotainment, range, etc. Your mileage may vary, of course. Pun somewhat intended.
- omnimus 8mo agoThe whole story of Skoda is interesting because they were bought by Volkswagen as "budget" brand but kept their own development department. They get consistently pushed down as the cars shouldn't compete with VW but they do. It's not surprising they were able to adjust to EVs better than VW. If anything VW should learn something from their own Skoda but from what i've heard the VW deparments got very comfy and quite old (not in a good way).
- andsoitis 8mo agoTesla has largely accomplished its original mission of “accelerating the world to sustainable energy”. Tesla forced the entire industry to accelerate to EV. Toyota could have been that pioneer and mover. Earlier this year Tesla adjusted their mission to push for “a world of amazing abundance” based on renewable energy, autonomous driving, robotics, and AI. https://www.tesla.com/about https://www.tesla.com/about
- hshdhdhj4444 8mo agoTesla deserves credit but it’s not Tesla that accelerated the world. It’s China. Even today Ford’s CEO talks about Chinese cars when discussing what they’re worried about, not Tesla. And then there’s also the battery cost revolution which is again being driven by Chinese companies, whereas Tesla’s in house design has largely failed.
- andsoitis 8mo agoTesla defined the modern EV market through Silicon Valley innovation, while Chinese companies like BYD focused on vertical integration and affordability, eventually overtaking Tesla in sales in 2025 (both started operations around 2003). Tesla’s entry into the Chinese market via the Shanghai Gigafactory (2019) acted as a "catfish," forcing local Chinese "new forces" like NIO, XPeng, and Li Auto to lower prices and accelerate technological innovation.
- tonyedgecombe 8mo agoYou can’t ignore Nissan and the Leaf. I would say they have been just as influential.
- andsoitis 8mo agoLeaf didn't capture the mind of people that EVs are good options. Tesla made long-distance driving in EVs possible. Tesla made EV sexy, desirable. It catalyzed the Chinese EV industry. Nissan didn't remotely accomplish those things. Like someone else said, people think in terms of a pre-Tesla and post-Tesla world. I don't know that there's a strong case against that framing.
- rsynnott 8mo ago> Volkswagen (VOWG.DE), opens new tab overtook Tesla (TSLA.O), opens new tab in sales of fully-electric cars in Europe in 2025 This is pretty nonsensical. The VW _brand_ overtook Tesla in EV sales. However, VW AG (ie the VOWG.DE referenced above), has been outselling Tesla since about 2020. Audi and Seat and so forth are not independent companies in any meaningful way and their cars are for practical purposes the same as those sold under the VW brand.
- segmondy 8mo agoIt's already difficult getting your Tesla repaired, it's going to be a nightmare when Melon pivots away completely from EV which he will once it's obvious that he's getting crushed all around, not just in sales but design, functionality, etc.
- tomashm 8mo agoI’m in Europe and on my fourth Tesla, but it’ll be my last. No more of my money is going Musk’s way.