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Volkswagen Group rules, Hyundai shines, BYD on the way up, Tesla on the way down, and all this happening in a 28% plugin vehicle share market.
EVs are picking up in Europe, with some 302,000 plugin vehicles being registered in Europe in July. That’s up 40% year over year (YoY), above the yearly growth rate of 26%.
This is a particularly positive sign when considering that the overall market (currently at ~7.9 million units YTD) is basically stagnant (up 6% in July, 0% YTD).
Interestingly, while BEVs seem to be on a steady growth rate (in July, they were up 34% YoY, to 189,000 units), PHEVs are picking up the pace, jumping 53% YoY in July, their highest growth rate in over three years. They were spearheaded by the #4 BYD Seal U PHEV (aka Euro-spec BYD Song PHEV), but other Chinese makes are also helping out, like Chery’s Jaecoo 7 PHEV, which continues to ramp up deliveries, having registered 2,006 units in July alone. PHEVs scored over 112,000 sales in July, and their YTD numbers are now up 26% to close to 710,000 units.
As such, July saw the plugin vehicle share of the overall European auto market reach 28% (18% full electrics/BEVs), pulling the year-to-date numbers to 27% (18% for BEVs).
More proof that plugin hybrids are picking up is that they represented 37% of all plugin car sales in July, well above the 34% of the yearly average.
The big highlight this month was Skoda’s first #1 plus #2 win. Here’s a more detailed analysis of the top 5 EVs this month:
#1 Skoda Elroq — The recently introduced Elroq won another Best Seller title in July, thanks to 8,701 registrations. Will we see it go north of the 10,000-unit mark in September? Volkswagen Group has struck gold with this one. Despite minimum effort (basically, it shortened the Enyaq), Skoda won a top three presence AND did it without significantly hurting the Enyaq’s sales. In July, the longer crossover actually reached the silver medal position, giving the Czech brand a 1–2 win. Although not as spacious as its bigger sibling, it compensates for that with a competitive price, starting at 34,000 euros, which makes it one of the cheapest compact crossovers on the market, Chinese included. Could this be the new value-for-money king? This great performance allowed Skoda to score close to 16,000 BEV sales in July, a great result for the Czech brand.
#2 Skoda Enyaq — The Enyaq’s 2nd place finish came thanks to 6,943 registrations in July, which was a significant 46% sales increase YoY. This allowed the Czech maker to win both gold and silver in July, a first for the brand, and something that only Tesla managed to achieve in the past few years. Will we see this being repeated? Maybe. But it won’t be happening regularly. The competition is increasing by the day, and it will become more difficult to achieve #1 plus #2 wins. Still, next year, when the Skoda Epiq small crossover lands, we might see it also outsell its platform siblings (Cupra Raval, VW ID.2, VW ID.2X) and become another leadership candidate for the Czech brand.
#3 VW ID.3 — The German hatchback is finally living up to its promise, winning a podium seat in July thanks to 6,800 registrations, its best result in over a year. Benefitting from a refresh it received a few months ago, and a significant price cut to help things along, the VW model saw its sales jump over 100% in July, allowing it to become the best selling electric hatchback in July. Expect it to continue running at a pace of some 6,500 units per month, and winning several top 5 presences as a result.
#4 BYD Seal U (BEV+PHEV) — BYD’s star player delivered 6,644 sales (859 of them being of the BEV variety), with the model thus staying on the best sellers list in Europe. While the Seal U, the Euro-spec version of the veteran Song, isn’t class leading specs-wise, it compensates for that with competitive pricing. It is especially appealing in the PHEV version that starts just below 40,000 euros, a killer price for a midsize SUV. Just for an idea, the value-for-money minded Skoda Kodiaq midsize SUV starts at 45,000 euros, with a 1.5 MHEV engine and 150 hp, while the cheapest Seal U PHEV costs 5,000 euros less, is more powerful, has a combined power of 217 hp, AND, as a cherry on top, still offers 80 km of electric WLTP range. Not bad, eh?
#5 BMW iX1 — BMW’s compact crossover took profit from a poor showing from some models (like Tesla…) and managed to win a top 5 presence thanks to 6,598 registrations in July. This crossover has become a backbone of BMW Group’s success, helping them to stay afloat until the arrival of the cavalry (ahem, the upcoming Neue Klasse BEVs…). Despite minimum effort, basically, it is the BEV version of the ICE BMW X1. Average specs (65 kWh battery, 130 kW DC charging) and the badge (and lease rates) still matter in many European markets, which is helping it to stay successful.
Outside the top 5, the highlight comes from Hyundai, with the Korean make placing two models on the table. Its recently introduced Inster funky hatchback joined the table for the first time, at #17, thanks to a continued delivery ramp-up. But Hyundai’s second presence was more surprising, with the Tucson PHEV hitting a record score of 3,413 units and joining the table at #20. Stock clearance? Discounts? Or are people now just more keen on PHEVs?…
Another model shining was the #19 Ford Explorer EV. With 3,484 sales, Ford’s crossover with a VW heart is finding its spot on the market, which raises the question — Will we see a future Ford Fiesta EV based on the upcoming VW ID.2? Fingers crossed….
Outside the top 20, the big highlights were varied, starting with the Hyundai Kona EV (2,926 sales, a new year best), highlighting the Korean’s good month. The Mini Cooper EV also hit a year-best result, thanks to 2,225 sales. Two storied plugin hybrids seem to be returning to the spotlight thanks to enhanced specs (20 kWh battery and around 100 km electric range). The BMW X3 PHEV recorded 2,851 sales, its best result in over five years, and the once famous VW Golf PHEV is also rebounding, thanks to 2,810 registrations, its best score since 2021. I believe the Volkswagen model might even have a chance of reaching the PHEV best sellers list sometime in the future.
Finally, another month, another record for the VW ID. BUZZ. This time, it got 2,963 registrations. Will these numbers pull OEMs into investing in MPVs? I really hope so, and I would like to make a couple of suggestions:
A proper Renault Espace MPV, and now that the French carmaker is doing retro Like a Boss, why not design it with inspiration from the late ’90s 3rd Generation Espace? Too soon? Not old enough to be retro?
A new generation the VW Touran. Make it like a baby ID. BUZZ — smaller and, above all, cheaper.
Looking at the 2025 ranking, there were plenty of changes. The Tesla Model 3 (3,058 sales in July, down 38% YoY) had its expected off month, dropping five positions(!) to 8th.
The Renault 5 and several Volkswagen Group models took advantage of it, with the French hatchback climbing to 3rd, the VW ID.3 going up to 4th, and the Skoda Enyaq rising to 5th.
And then, of course, there is that shooting star, called the Skoda Elroq, that was up to 7th, surpassing, perhaps for good, the #8 Tesla Model 3. With one podium seat already in danger of being lost to the #2 VW ID.4, the Tesla sedan will have a small chance of recovering the other podium seat from the Skoda Elroq.
And voilá, we could see the Tesla Model 3 off of the European podium for the first time since 2018!
Wrapping up the top 10, the BYD Seal U climbed another position, now to 9th. The VW Tiguan PHEV climbed to 14th, and is now just some 3,400 units behind the PHEV leader Volvo XC60 PHEV.
Benefitting from another disappointing performance from the Citroen e-C3, the BMW i4 and Toyota C-HR PHEV both climbed a spot, to #18 and #19, respectively. Additionally, the Cupra Born re-joined the table, at #20, effectively kicking the French hatchback off the table, leaving Stellantis without any representative on the best sellers table. Hard times ahead for the multinational conglomerate….
As the Cupra Born joins the top 20, Volkswagen Group now has nine representatives on the table, which is starting to look like what BYD is doing in China….
Looking at the plugin auto brand ranking, the leader, Volkswagen, has gained share (11.3% in July vs. 11.2% in June). It holds a comfortable 2.3% share lead over #2 BMW.
This means that the German make is on its way to finishing a three-year Tesla reign (2022/23/24) in Europe, winning its first manufacturer title since 2021.
Speaking of Tesla, the Texan automaker saw its share fall by 0.5% from 6.1% to 5.6%, but it kept its #4 spot. Not bad, but … we are talking about the trophy holder. Tesla’s 2024 title was its 3rd in a row. And now it is fighting for a spot in the top 5!
The end of an era?
Below the top 5, growing Skoda rose from 5.1% in June to 5.3% share in July. This allowed the Czech brand to surpass Audi and climb to 6th.
Skoda is the best candidate for a top 5 presence soon, and also a welcome addition to the table, as Volkswagen is the single mainstream brand in the top 5, followed by four premium makes. Having Skoda on the best sellers table would be a good sign of EVs going mainstream. Fingers crossed….
A deserving mention also goes to BYD, which is already appearing on the radar with 4.2% share, a 0.1 percentage point increase over June.
Arranging things by automotive group, Volkswagen Group is firmly in the lead, winning 0.2% share in July. It is now at 28% share, a market share that is comparable to BYD’s in China and Tesla’s in the USA. This is an important metric for the German conglomerate if it wants to stay relevant in a fully electrified global automotive market.
If you can’t win at home….
BMW Group remained comfortable in the runner-up position in July (10.6%, up from 10.5% in June), while #3 Stellantis’ long hard road to hell seems to have no end (9.2% in June vs. 8.9% now). With too many brands and too little money to develop them, maybe it would be good to sell a couple of them? Say, Lancia, Chrysler, and Maserati? These storied makes need attention and lots of money in order for them to develop and flourish, and right now, those two items are in short supply at Stellantis….
Oh, and if DS and Abarth rejoined Citroen and Fiat, that wouldn’t hurt either.
But back to the top 5, Hyundai–Kia (8.1%, up from 7.9% in June) profited from a good month from Hyundai and remained in 4th, while #5 Geely lost ground (7.7%, down 0.1%).
Volvo is the main culprit for slowing sales, but with the exception of the still low volume Zeekr, all brands in Geely’s European arm were in the red, so … time to keep an eye on this?
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