The European auto market grew 261% year-over-year in April 2021 (to 1,029,008), but is down 23% from April 2019 and remains the second lowest in 20 years.
JATO Dynamics’ The report also reveals that the plug-in electric car segment is on the rise significantly, taking 15% of the market (compared to 11% a year ago).
Here is the breakdown between plug-in hybrids and all-electric cars:
- BEV: 71,500 (up 338% Year after year)
- PHEV: 81,000 (up 507% Year after year)
According to JATO dynamics‘data, the best-selling electric car in April – for the first time was an SUV – Volkswagen ID. 4. The second best was the Volkswagen ID.3.
Felipe Munoz, Global Analyst at JATO Dynamics commented:
“As expected, the next phase of growth for electric vehicles will come from SUVs. The leading Volkswagen ID.4 is just the start of the electric SUV trend, and we expect new models to hit the market as consumer demand increases.
The list of the best models reveals that 2,000 units are starting to become the bare minimum to enter the top 10.
An interesting thing is that the Volkswagen Group has managed to increase its share in the all-electric segment to 34%.
“In fact, BEVs compensate for losses experienced by traditional Volkswagen ICE models. For example, the Volkswagen Golf was the third best-selling model in the overall ranking, its volume having decreased by 49% between April 2019 and April 2021. In April 2018, the Golf represented 2.93% of all new registrations of cars, up from just 1.73% last month.
Industry analyst Matthias Schmidt notes that the 12-month cumulative average of Volkswagen Group’s all-electric car sales in Western Europe is now over 200,000, while Tesla – the global market leader (former European leader in BEV) and the main reference point – is stuck at 100,000.
The lack of reinforcements in the form of the Tesla Model Y and the fading of Tesla Model S / Tesla Model X (pending updates) make it difficult to grow despite the overall market growing rapidly.
