Volkswagen overtakes Tesla to Dominate Electric Car Sales in Europe

Tesla lost its position as the largest seller of electric vehicles in Europe to Volkswagen in the first quarter of 2025.

According to data from JATO Dynamics, an automotive analytics firm, Volkswagen’s electric vehicle sales outperformed those of the American company, whose CEO is billionaire businessman Elon Musk, during the first three months of this year.

The German company sold 65,679 battery-powered electric vehicles in the first quarter, compared to 53,237 for Tesla.

Volkswagen’s sales more than doubled year-over-year, with a 157% increase compared to the same period in 2024. Tesla’s registrations, on the other hand, declined by 38% during the same period year-over-year, according to JATO data, as reported by CNBC. Despite the American company losing its lead in Europe, JATO found that the first three months of the year were the strongest quarter ever for battery electric vehicle sales, accounting for 16.9% of total vehicle registrations in March, a 2.7 percentage point increase year-on-year.