• EVs contributed over 29% of Europe’s total passenger vehicle sales in Q4 2022.
• Chinese EV brands sold nearly 58,000 units in Europe during 2022.
• Europe’s EV sales are expected to exceed 4 million units in 2023.

London, New Delhi, San Diego, Buenos Aires, Hong Kong, Beijing, Seoul – March 6, 2023

Europe’s passenger electric vehicle* (EV) sales in Q4 2022 grew over 34% YoY to bring the 2022 total to over 2.7 million units, according to the latest research from Counterpoint’s Global Passenger Electric Vehicle Model Sales Tracker. Battery EVs (BEVs) continued to increase their share, growing by 36% YoY to account for almost 63% of all EV sales, while plug-in hybrid EVs (PHEVs) accounted for the rest. Germany was the largest EV market in Europe with almost 39% of total sales, followed by the United Kingdom and France. Germany also remained Europe’s fastest-growing EV market in Q4 2022 with 75% YoY growth, while Norway and Sweden’s overall passenger vehicle sales had the highest EV share in the continent. In terms of brands, Tesla managed to overtake Mercedes Benz to grab the top spot in Europe.

Commenting on the market dynamics, Research Analyst Abhik Mukherjee said, “EV sales in Europe are increasing at a slower pace than expected. But since many European brands target to convert most of their models to electric by 2025, we expect EV sales to accelerate in the next two years. European automakers need to keep a close eye on Chinese competitors. Most Chinese brands, like BYD, Lynk, NIO and XPeng, made their European debut in 2021, selling just under 21,000 EVs cumulatively. In 2022, Chinese brands sold almost 58,000 EVs, capturing over 2% of the market. With the current trajectory, their share is expected to double to around 5% by the end of 2023.”

Market summary

Tesla became Europe’s top-selling EV brand in Q4, dethroning Mercedes Benz. Tesla’s Model Y also became the best-selling EV in Europe during Q4 and for the full year of 2022, followed by its Model 3. Production capacity at Tesla’s Berlin factory reached 3,000 units per week in November 2022. The factory played a crucial role in Tesla becoming the best-selling EV brand.

Volkswagen’s EV sales grew by almost 48% YoY in Q4, helping it stay the second best-selling EV brand in Europe. Volkswagen has been spearheading its ID models and the launch of an updated version of the ID.3 model will help the brand hold its position more firmly.

Mercedes-Benz sold over 76,000 EVs in Europe during Q4, a growth of 46% YoY. The top-selling models were the A-Class, EQA and GLE-Class. PHEVs accounted for almost 67% of Mercedes’ Q4 EV sales. Tesla and Volkswagen pushed Mercedes to third place in Q4 2022.

Discussing the market outlook, Senior Analyst Soumen Mandal said, “EVs 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. The rise of Chinese brands will likely pose a threat to local manufacturers. Lynk & Co, a subsidiary of Geely Holding, sold over 20,000 PHEVs during Q4 2022, with its Lynk 01 model entering the list of top 10 best-selling EV models in Europe. The implementation of strict laws to limit carbon emissions makes battery manufacturing costlier across Europe, thus making European-produced EVs more costly than those imported from China. Unless policies are brought for vehicle imports, the sales of Chinese EVs will continue to increase across Europe.”

*Sales refer to wholesale figures, i.e. deliveries from factories by the respective brands/companies.

*The countries in this study include Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom and Ukraine.

*For EVs, we consider only BEVs and PHEVs. Hybrid EVs and fuel cell vehicles (FCVs) are not covered by this study.

The comprehensive and in-depth ‘Global Passenger Electric Vehicle Sales Tracker, Q1 2018-Q4 2022’ is now available for purchase at report.counterpointresearch.com.

Feel free to reach us at [email protected] for questions regarding our latest research and insights.

 Background

Counterpoint Technology Market Research is a global research firm specializing in products in the TMT (technology, media and telecom) industry. It services major technology and financial firms with a mix of monthly reports, customized projects and detailed analyses of the mobile and technology markets. Its key analysts are seasoned experts in the high-tech industry.

Analyst Contacts

Abhik Mukherjee

Soumen Mandal

 Neil Shah

 Peter Richardson

 Counterpoint Research

[email protected]

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