In a shrinking European car market, electrified drives can grow significantly. Tesla electric cars are particularly popular.
Market observer Jato reported a 5.4 percent decline in new car registrations in February 2022 compared to the previous year to just 794,576 units for the European car market, which comprises 26 countries. However, the registrations for vehicles with electrified drives, which account for 20 percent of the new car market in the form of purely electric cars and plug-in hybrid models, are bucking this downward trend. This brings the electrified drives very close to the diesel models, which accounted for 21 percent of new registrations in February. The petrol engines, which account for 56 percent of new passenger car registrations, are still unattainable.
Electrified models with strong growth
Pushed by various subsidies and the currently very high fuel prices, purely electric cars in particular can score points with customers. According to the data collected by Jato, e-cars increased by 77 percent to 87,400 vehicles compared to February 2021. The PHEVs only recorded an increase of six percent to 67,400 cars.,
No matter which drive a new vehicle has under the hood - the tendency towards SUV models is always unmistakable. Even with electric cars. With a growth rate of 49 percent, the electrically powered SUV models accounted for 51 percent of all electric cars in February 2022. The proportion of small cars among electric vehicles shrank significantly and is now only 25 percent. 13 percent went for sedan models, ten percent for compact models and only one percent for electrically powered vans.
Tesla tops new e-car registrations
A look at the electric car model ranking shows that Tesla is clearly ahead here. The Americans were able to sell 9,061 Model 3s in Europe in February, 67 percent more than in the previous year. The Model Y, which was not yet available last year, took second place in the hit list with 6,729 new registrations. The Fiat 500e is in third place with 3,796 new registrations. One can be curious about the future performance of the VW ID.4, which only had 2,716 new registrations in February, but still shines with a growth rate of almost 600 percent.,
PHEV bestseller comes from Peugeot
Let's take a quick look at the PHEV hit list. Here the Peugeot 3008 is at the top with 3,611 units. The Ford Kuga and the BMW 3 Series follow. The Cupra Formentor is extremely popular here. However, the really big sales figures continue to come from the conventionally powered models. Here the VW Golf is at the top with 15,041 units in February. The Peugeot 208 (14,666) and the Dacia Sandero (134,105) follow. The BEV bestseller Tesla Model 3 is only in 21st place in the overall ranking,
Conclusion
In the European car market, which is hampered by the chip shortage and the Ukraine war, electrified drives can grow more and more. The focus of buyers is on pure electric cars in SUV format. The BEV bestseller is Tesla's Model 3. But it doesn't come close to the VW Golf, which is still the best-selling vehicle in Europe.
