Bmw overtakes Tesla in electric car sales in Europe, while SUVs reach 54% of the market

In July, the BMW group surpassed the Texan brand in the number of electric cars sold against a backdrop of steadily declining demand: 139,300 electric cars were sold, 6 % less than in 2023. The battery car market share, according to Jato Dinamics data, fell from 14.3 per cent in July 2023 to 13.5 per cent last month. The lack of certainty regarding incentives is the main obstacle for those who have already decided to switch to battery mobility. In addition to another brake, which is the low residual value of electric cars.

Bmw, on the other hand, secured the lead in the electric vehicle brand ranking last month, with a 35% year-on-year increase. A very strong performance compared to Tesla, which recorded a 16% drop. Although the Tesla Model Y and 3 continue to dominate the ranking since the beginning of the year, they are losing ground. The Model Y is no longer the best-selling vehicle in Europe and is in 24th place in the overall sales ranking for July. The Bmw iX1, i4 and i5 electric cars, on the other hand, performed well in July, while the new iX2 recorded more than 1,300 units.

In July, SUV sales accounted for 54 per cent of all registrations in Europe - a new record. Last month, 554,000 new SUVs were registered, a 6% increase over July 2023. As a result, the volume of high-wheelers since the beginning of the year has reached 4.2 million units, a growth of 5%. While many brands such as Toyota, Bmw, Mercedes and the Geely Group led the sales growth in July for SUVs, the Vw Group took the top spot: 26% of all registered units are from the Volkswagen Group, followed by Hyundai-Kia with 12% and Stellantis with 11.5%.

C-Suvs, the compact models, recorded the highest demand with registrations of 210,600 units, an increase of 3%. The growth in SUV sales was also driven by B-Suvs, the smaller models, with a volume increase of 14% for a total of 204,300 units sold. E-Suvs, the largest models, recorded 27,600 units, while F-Suvs, the most luxurious, totalled 5,022 units, up 23% and 32% respectively. By contrast, demand for the so-called D-Suvs, the medium-sized SUVs, fell by 7% in July to 106,500 units.

The Dacia Sandero consolidated its leadership in Europe. In July, it was once again the most popular car in the 28 countries of the Old Continent, recording a total of 22,400 units, an increase of 34%. This is more than 3,000 units more than the second best-selling car, which was the Volkswagen T-Roc with +5%. In third place with 17,314 units sold was the Toyora Yaris Cross + 47%. It should be noted that among the ten best performing cars in July, five were high-wheelers and five were saloons like the leading Sandero.