The Tesla Model 3 finished 2021 as the most popular battery electric vehicle (BEV) across western Europe, accounting for every ninth new battery electric vehicle registered, and delivering twice as many units as the next best model.
According to new data from Schmidt Automotive Research, 139,600 Model 3s were registered across western Europe in 2021 – an 18 market region including the original European Union member states plus Norway, Switzerland, Iceland, and the UK.
Accounting for every ninth new BEV sold across Western Europe in 2021, twice as many units of the Tesla Model 3 were delivered as the next best model, the Renault Zoe.
A quarter of all Tesla Model 3s registered in 2021 headed to Germany thanks to strong government funding which, according to Schmidt, “also helped offer attractive leasing deals requiring no deposits, with rates starting at €299 per month.”
The United Kingdom was the second leading destination for the Tesla Model 3 in 2021.
In total, it sold twice as many units as the next best model, the Renault Zoe. Then follows the VW ID.3 and ID.4, the Kia Niro, the Fiat 500c, the Skoda Enyaq, the Peugeot 208e, the Hyundai Kona and the VW eUP.
Only three of western Europe’s top 10 models are available in Australia.
Schmidt Automotive Research also says the Volkswagen Group’s combined MEB-based models achieved fewer than 200,000 models across western Europe during the same period with just 189,000 models from the Škoda Enyaq, VW ID.3 and ID.4, as well as the Audi Q4 and Cupra Born.
Worth noting, however, is that Volkswagen Passenger Cars own numbers for all of Europe – 27 countries rather than the 18 analysed by Schmidt – and which do not include any of Volkswagen Group’s other brands such as Škoda or Audi – show around 263,000 MEB-based BEVs were delivered to European customers in 2021.
Joshua S. Hill is a Melbourne-based journalist who has been writing about climate change, clean technology, and electric vehicles for over 15 years. He has been reporting on electric vehicles and clean technologies for Renew Economy and The Driven since 2012. His preferred mode of transport is his feet.