Support CleanTechnica’s work through a Substack subscription or on Stripe.
Volkswagen Group outsells Tesla in Europe with a single model. Yep, there is a single Volkswagen Group model that outsells the Model Y in Europe. And now you all think I am crazy and do not know what I am writing about.
Now I ask you, find the differences:
6 nearly identical SUVs sold under 3 Volkswagen Group brands.
The wheelbase of all six is nearly the same, between 2764 mm and 2771 mm. Just like the height, length, width, and mass. That is because they are all built with modules from the MEB. The names of these models are the VW ID.4 (and ID.5), Skoda Enyaq (and Sportback), Audi Q4 (and Sportback). Batteries and motors are mostly identical. There are more choices in the MEB, so the designers have some liberty. The differences are in the colors, the lights, the rims, the seats, and the interior upholstery. The user interface is a bit different, but the software and options are mostly identical.
In the sales stats of most countries, the numbers are counted on 3, 4, or even 6 models of three brands. The three brands have three different (loyal) customer groups. But really, if I told you that this was the same model, just three different model years, most people would complain that they are too similar to be sold as new/updated models.
A few decades ago, Volkswagen hit the ceiling that exists for a single model and for a single brand in Europe. To increase sales beyond that ceiling, it decided to diversify. It bought Seat, Skoda, and Audi and started growing again. Most people do not know that the brands are owned by the same group. Those who do know mostly do not care. Every brand has its own unique personality.
Tesla thought that these market laws did not apply to them. Well, they did not when they had a near monopoly on good BEVs. The first reasonable good BEVs were sold with the argument “this is not a Tesla.” The short-lived popularity of the Jaguar I-PACE was an example of this.
Probably a vast majority of the readers see the Model Y as the technologically superior car. But Volkswagen Group marketing is clearly more effective in finding customers for their products.
And now you would probably like to see the numbers. The site I use gives such detailed numbers for 11 countries. Here’s what we have:
Q1 2025: Model Y — 20,583 sales vs. Volkswagen Group SUVs — 46,537 sales
Q2 2025: Model Y — 26,306 sales vs. Volkswagen Group SUVs — 40,334 sales
You can play with the numbers yourself on eu-evs.com.
The Model 3 is better at keeping the Volkswagen ID.3 + Seat/Cupra Born at bay. There is not a Skoda or Audi clone of these two models as far as I know. Probably because the ID.3 had a lot of teething problems. Those are over now, so time for more competition in this class.
Sign up for CleanTechnica’s Weekly Substack for Zach and Scott’s in-depth analyses and high level summaries, sign up for our daily newsletter, and follow us on Google News!
Advertisement
Have a tip for CleanTechnica? Want to advertise? Want to suggest a guest for our CleanTech Talk podcast? Contact us here.
Sign up for our daily newsletter for 15 new cleantech stories a day. Or sign up for our weekly one on top stories of the week if daily is too frequent.
[embedded content]
CleanTechnica uses affiliate links. See our policy here.
CleanTechnica’s Comment Policy
Share this story!