European sales of electrified vehicles were up a total of 34 percent in the final three months of 2022, and were led by Tesla, whose Berlin factory reached production of 3,000 units per week in November.
The American automaker’s sales were topped by the Model Y, the continent’s best-selling electric vehicle for 2022, and the Model 3, according to data collected by Counterpoint Research. The Ford Kuga plug-in hybrid was the third-best-selling electrified vehicle in the fourth quarter of 2022, but that was the brand’s only model in the top ten of the sales charts.
Volkswagen, whose ID.4 and ID.3 were the fifth and seventh-best-selling electrified vehicles on the continent between October and December 2022, was the second-strongest brand when it came to EV sales.
Read: 1 In 8 Vehicles Sold In Europe Last Year Was Fully Electric
Overall, the German automaker sold 48 percent more electrified vehicles in Q4 2022 than it did in Q4 2021. Thanks to the launch of the facelifted ID.3, and a raft of new models to follow that, the automaker looks set to continue giving Tesla some healthy competition in Europe.
Both, though, will have to work hard to stay ahead of several Chinese brands that are coming onto the market. The Lynk & Co 01 was the eighth most popular electrified vehicle in Europe at the end of last year, and other automakers are starting to break into the market, using their low prices and strong production capacity to win over consumers.
In terms of which countries were the most excited about electrified vehicles, Germany led the sales charts, with its residents accounting for 38.7 percent of EV buyers continent-wide. The United Kingdom and France were in second and third, followed by Norway and Sweden.
Overall, the fourth quarter of 2022 was a good one for electrified vehicles, with sales of fully electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles growing 34 percent across the continent. That meant that, in total, Europeans bought 2.7 million electrified vehicles in 2022, and sales look to be on the rise.
Electrified vehicles “contributed over 29% of Europe’s total passenger vehicle sales in Q4 2022. We expect that more than 4 million EVs will be sold across Europe in 2023,” said Soumen Mandal, senior analyst at Counterpoint Research.
