VW has overtaken Tesla as Europe's top EV seller
www.businessinsider.com
Volkswagen EV registrations rose more than 150% year-over-year while Tesla saw the biggest decline among the top 30 brands.

Summary

  • Volkswagen beat Tesla in European EV sales across the first three months of 2025, data shows.
  • Registrations for VW EVs are up more than 150%, while Tesla lost huge ground.
  • However, the Model Y and Model 3 remain Europe’s top two most-registered EVs.
      • 𝚝𝚛𝚔@aussie.zoneEnglish
        8·
        1 day ago

        Can’t speak for other countries, but in Australia BYD is smashing it.

        They represent incredible value for money and it’s not like we’ve got a local industry to protect - our conservative government made sure of that.

        We’re already the world’s dumping ground for shit vehicles that don’t meet emissions standards, so having a non-Elon Musk EV alternative is something people are grabbing with both hands. We bought a BYD Seal Performance for $70k AUD a little over a year ago. For that money you get an incredibly comfortable sedan that does 500k on a charge, costs about $1 per 100km to run, and does 0-100 in 3.8 seconds.

        EU vehicles are crazy overpriced by comparison, and because they try and position Mercedes / BMW / VW as luxury brands here the servicing and repair costs are through the roof. Part availability also sucks, with everything being a 6+ week lead time. We’ve owned European vehicles on several occasions and never again.

          • 𝚝𝚛𝚔@aussie.zoneEnglish
            3·
            21 hours ago

            Like what?

            Korea has a few (Hyundai, Kia / same,same) but the only Japanese options are [P]HEV or the Toyota BZ4X which is… ugly… if it didn’t have a Toyota badge I don’t think they’d sell any of them. Few old Leafs still hanging in there, but if you want to go more than 100k at a time that’s them ruled out.

            • Kecessa@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
              1·
              17 hours ago

              300km+ range for the Leaf these days and they’ve got the Ariya that has over 400km of range, but I just checked and they don’t seem to offer either in Australia…

              Guess you’re truly stuck with Chinese and Korean models then…

      • frankgrimeszz@lemmy.worldEnglish
        121·
        2 days ago

        I only brought them up because I saw a news report that their dealerships are popping up and their starting price is much lower than Tesla. Like €17000.

      • Track_Shovel@slrpnk.netEnglish
        12·
        2 days ago

        I’ve seen some videos on them. They look pretty nice but I worry about how they hold up and the build quality, as I would any relatively unestablished brand.

        • Ensign_Crab@lemmy.worldEnglish
          2·
          17 hours ago

          Don’t want to protect elon musk’s swastikar LLC with tariffs? Must be a tankie! Want to buy a cheap electric vehicle? tankie!

          • Eugene V. Debs' Ghost@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
            1·
            4 hours ago

            “Anyone who supports Tesla is now a Tankie. Anyone who is anti-Tarrifs is now a Tankie. Anyone who wants anything anti-Trump is a Tankie.”

            For the moment he had shut his ears to the remoter noises and was listening to the stuff that streamed out of the telescreen. It appeared that there had even been demonstrations to thank Big Brother for raising the chocolate ration to twenty grammes a week. And only yesterday, he reflected, it had been announced that the ration was to be REDUCED to twenty grammes a week. Was it possible that they could swallow that, after only twenty-four hours? Yes, they swallowed it.

        • Wanderer@lemm.eeEnglish
          32·
          16 hours ago

          Fuck the Tankies fuck communism entirely, I just got back from Cambodia, got an economics degree and like capitalism, China’s a bunch of dickheads.

          BYD is going to change the world.

          It’s the classic incumbents move slow into new tech. Added with government investment, low labour costs, access to raw materials/adjacent industries, hungry growth focused companies, semi crazy workforce.

          I haven’t drove a BYD or even a electric car for that matter but reading the stats things are going to move fast and the rate they move is going to increase. I can see all the west companies largely losing their overseas market, other than luxury, inside cities. The world’s moved on and people don’t realise.

          • finitebanjo@lemmy.worldEnglish
            11·
            7 hours ago

            Nice try but true capitalists with economics degrees hate capitalism. There simply is no other system ever attempted.

            China’s capitalist move is to operate these electric car companies at or near a loss to push competitors out of the markets which would be unsustainable if they had to worry about human rights in the process.

            • Wanderer@lemm.eeEnglish
              11·
              5 hours ago

              Plenty of things have been tried.

              Like communism has been tried multiple times. Every time was an unmitigated fucking disaster.

      • weew@lemmy.caEnglish
        85·
        2 days ago

        Because they present amazing value (at Chinese prices) and really advanced battery technology.

        • Kecessa@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
          276·
          2 days ago

          If you don’t consider the impact that sending yet more manufacturing jobs to China will have in the long run and the fact that they have great value because what China is doing is called dumping and the goal is for them to have a monopoly so they can eventually increase prices without having any competitors.

              • Ensign_Crab@lemmy.worldEnglish
                21·
                16 hours ago

                So, since china is evil and wrong for making an affordable car when elon doesn’t want them to, who is allowed to make an affordable electric car?

                • Kecessa@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
                  11·
                  15 hours ago

                  Eh… What are you going on about? Dumping is wrong no matter who does it and there’s more than Tesla and Chinese offerings on the market.

                  • Ensign_Crab@lemmy.worldEnglish
                    31·
                    15 hours ago

                    Dumping is wrong no matter who does it

                    Right after biden put in his trumpian tariffs against an automaker to protect musk.

          • suigenerix@lemmy.worldEnglish
            16·
            2 days ago

            Yes, China dumps EVs on other markets.

            But here are some extra insights to consider about the issue:

            • To curb dumping, many countries already have, or are introducing, high tariffs against Chinese EVs. Biden had a 100% tariff on EVs, Canada is 100%, India is 70-100%, the EU is up to 45%, Brazil is ramping up to 35%, etc.
            • Around 90% of all EVs China produces are sold in China. So even if EV dumping ends, it’ll have only a minor effect on production
            • Dumping is caused by over supply of Chinese EVs at the moment. Some countries, like the US under Trump policies, are deliberately attempting to drive down EV demand, further adding to the issue. And as with all markets, over supply can’t be sustained indefinitely, so it’s predicted that multiple Chinese EV manufacturers will go under or merge. This is normal in evolving markets
            • China is innovating much faster with EV tech, especially with battery technology. Meanwhile the US under Trump is removing incentives for EV production and ownership, and causing significant market uncertainty. This will have a far greater effect on Chinese dominance of the technology than dumping
            • China is in the majority of countries in offering government subsidies and tax breaks for emerging products, especially on things like R&D and infrastructure
            • The US and other countries also dump products on a significantly larger scale. For example, the US government subsidizes corn which is sold to world markets under production cost. Exports of corn from the US in 2024 were ~$14 billion, while Chinese EV exports were under $5 billion

            None of this is intended to condone China or any country dumping products, but as a warning about having overly simplified reactions to an issue without understanding the bigger picture.

            • Kecessa@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
              72·
              2 days ago

              “They’re much cheaper than comparable cars!”

              People never think about where the savings come from, as long as they can buy stuff.

              Seeing people who call themselves left wing defending globalism will always be funny to people like me who are left wing and were protesting against it back in the day.

              • Don_alForno@feddit.orgEnglish
                3·
                2 days ago

                On the other hand, the right in America is in the process of destroying globalism and is rightly mocked for it because they themselves are suffering the worst.

                • Kecessa@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
                  41·
                  2 days ago

                  The issue is the way they’re trying to put an end to it. A plan like the government giving priority to local manufacturers and forcing international bidders to build factories in the country is one thing. Imposing tariffs without any plans to compensate locally is just plain dumb.

                  • AA5B@lemmy.worldEnglish
                    3·
                    2 days ago

                    And yet they’re not just going about it the most boneheaded way they can think of, but have been actively killing off Biden era incentives to do what they claim they want.

                    If they actually cared about manufacturing locally, they would support those incentives, and support the infrastructure bill

      • Blablablabum@lemmy.zipEnglish
        55·
        2 days ago

        Well, they do make pretty nice cars… I have a dolphin, and it is great value for the money :)

    • ramble81@lemm.eeEnglish
      10·
      3 days ago

      Right now they’re more expensive in Europe due to tariffs (not the Trump ones), however there were some talks about the EU reducing or removing the tariff on them in which case I can see demand exploding because of their price.

      • Buffalox@lemmy.worldEnglish
        111·
        2 days ago

        AFAIK the Tariff in EU on BYD BEV is 13% (The tariffs vary based on how much state funding the brand has received), but if they have hybrids, they can sell them without tariff. The tariffs are only on BEV.

        I dont think their sales would explode if the tariffs were removed. Many people are still cautious about Chinese cars, and some simply don’t want a car made in China.

        • Ensign_Crab@lemmy.worldEnglish
          1·
          16 hours ago

          (The tariffs vary based on how much state funding the brand has received), but if they have hybrids, they can sell them without tariff. The tariffs are only on BEV.

          So all BYD has to do is the absolute minimum to make a BEV into a hybrid. So like, a model aircraft engine and a bike dynamo? It doesn’t have to charge the batteries well. And you can put it on a module that can be easily removed. Maybe sell the car with a little display case for the removed module, just to be extra cheeky.

              • Buffalox@lemmy.worldEnglish
                1·
                14 hours ago

                I bet it’s not, and that there are clear regulations for it.
                That’s the way things usually are with such classifications.
                Especially for something that for years had a significant TAX credit.

                • Ensign_Crab@lemmy.worldEnglish
                  21·
                  14 hours ago

                  Especially for something that for years had a significant TAX credit.

                  Yeah, that’s why I suspected it was easy to game.

                  • Buffalox@lemmy.worldEnglish
                    11·
                    11 hours ago

                    EU is neither as corrupt nor as incompetent as you seem to think.
                    Maybe you are thinking about USA?