Last year, overall vehicle sales in Europe barely ticked up, rising 2.2 percent from 2024. EV sales, meanwhile, increased by 29 percent, bringing market share to an impressive 19.5 percent.
That’s according to data from automotive analyst JATO Dynamics, which finds that the big winner has been Volkswagen. Last year, its EVs outsold those from Tesla for the first time as sales of VW’s electric offering grew by 56 percent, while Tesla’s shrank by 27 percent.
To put that into concrete numbers, VW sold 274,278 EVs to Tesla’s 236,357. And that’s just the VW brand itself—the automaker also owns Skoda (in 4th place, with 171,703 sales), Audi (5th place, 153,845 sales), Cupra (15th place, 79,269 sales), and Porsche (21st place, 32,715 sales). Not a bad effort, considering just over a decade has passed since VW’s Dieselgate scandal.
Volkswagen sucks. The only reason they are doing relatively well is because Musk has been the perfect spokesperson for every other car company except his own.
VW could have massively long-term profited from this but nope. They make mediocre EVs and to make it worse, they are even backpedaling from their earlier modest investments into EVs.
VW’s Dieselgate scandal.
There’s very little reason to believe this changed anything. They are angry that they got caught, not because they did it.
Can we add Volvo to that list? Just go buy Korean brands.
Or cheap French, those are doing well.
Fuuuuuuuuck i was looking at a Volvo… What are they up to?
Volvo belongs to Geely which owns a few other brands focused on electric cars such as Polestar and Zeekr.
Outdated.
Expensive.
Banking on eco friendly with recycled look, but aren’t actually all that eco.
Currently prone to being set ablaze, currently going through a recall.
SUPER INEFFICIENT. like one of the worst efficient cars I’ve test driven.
Super heavy, they cram inefficient batteries as they recycle ice bases and just increase the battery size = extra weight = extra cost to charge etc.
There’s a lot honestly. You got to compare it to what is out there right now. People tend to compare them to their current 10 year old car or are simply blind to the flaws. Genuinely, I wouldn’t recommend it or polestar to anyone unless you really like how they look and you care not about money.
Well, they are now owned by a chinese company. Stilm produce in sweden though and are great for safety and ecology.
Imagine losing to VW in the EV game after a 10+ year headstart. Humiliating.
The only thing Tesla ever had going for it was that big screen, which ended up triggering a horrible era of buttonless cars. I’ll be happy when they die.
Imo they also has their charging network, which was a differentiating feature. But imo it was clear that eventually it was something that becomes less important the wider general adoption progresses.
Not sure, but I think they also were early or at least better than legacy car makers with over the air software updates.
But nowadays I don’t see any standout thing that sets them apart. Tesla got the early lead due others imo facing the inventors dilemma, but they didn’t progress further and now others caught up.
Don’t forget that Tesla also provides cremation services for the whole family.
Isn’t it like an 8 hour cremation service that can still burn in the rain?
Honestly, that sounds like a very reliable service.
By far the most reliable part of Tesla technology. Remember that they’re a technology brand and not a car company. Because they sell lots of things that are not cars. Cars, carbon credits, cremation services, red flags.
Can’t wait for the whole Musk fata morgana to crater, couldn’t happen to a nicer guy…
To put that into concrete numbers, VW sold 274,278 EVs to Tesla’s 236,357. And that’s just the VW brand itself—the automaker also owns Skoda (in 4th place, with 171,703 sales), Audi (5th place, 153,845 sales), Cupra (15th place, 79,269 sales), and Porsche (21st place, 32,715 sales).
274,278+171,703+153,845+79,269+32,715 = 711,813
711,813 / 236,357 = 3,01So VW group has 3 times the sales in Europe that Tesla has. That’s a bit more than “slipped behind”.
Even main VW brand by itself is almost 14% higher than Tesla!In Denmark with 70% EV sales, No Tesla model is even in top 10 anymore! And that’s despite Tesla basically only sell 2 models!
With the whole Greenland thing, I can imagine that people in Denmark especially would be against buying a car from an American brand
Yes that is true, but this trend started already late 2024, and in 2025 Tesla sales were consistently 50% below 2024. Even before Greenland became an issue.
Sweden, Germany and France have had similar decline to Denmark in Tesla sales. And finally sales in Norway are declining for Tesla too. IDK why, but for some reason Tesla remained a darling in Norway longer than for any other European country.
But apparently the bubble is bursting in Norway now:
https://www.carscoops.com/2026/02/tesla-sales-collapse-evs-january/
The real question is who those 236,357 cars were sold to. Which European buys a car from a guy who did a Hitler salute live on stage, twice?
I suppose people who are fascists or don’t give a shit or are extremely ignorant.
Saddest part is that WV group is struggling, closing factories and doing layoffs. All the while Elon swimming around In new investments every day.
Isn’t most of the investments just from his other businesses though?
