VW races ahead of Tesla in Europe’s EV market
Clean Energy Wire / Handelsblatt
Volkswagen is continuing to pull ahead of Tesla in the European electric vehicle (EV) market. The VW group’s pure electric deliveries in Europe jumped around 90 percent in the first half of the year, while global deliveries rose 50 percent compared to the same period last year, VW said.
"One in five of the vehicles we delivered in Western Europe is now purely electric," said VW sales executive Marco Schubert. In addition to its namesake brand, the VW group also includes Audi, Porsche, Skoda, Seat, and others.
VW’s surge has been fuelled by deep discounts, putting pressure on profits, according to business daily Handelsblatt. The EV price cuts not only serve to drive sales, but also help VW meet strict EU fleet emission limits. VW told the daily that the large number of EVs launching in 2025 “will make a significant contribution to the Volkswagen Group’s CO2 compliance.” The company also insisted that EVs are profitable, even if margins are thin.
Tesla's European deliveries continue to slide, and most recently dropped by around a third compared to last year. Tesla CEO Elon Musk has reportedly taken direct control of European sales following the declining performance, amid a public backlash against the carmaker.
“The cards are currently being reshuffled on the European new car market,” Constantin Gall, a mobility expert at consultants EY, told Handelsblatt. With the technological gap between Tesla and its European competitors closed, the challenge now is making EVs pay, Gall added.
Many industry experts say that VW's most important competitor is no longer Tesla, but Chinese brands eyeing the European market. They also point to VW's recent dire performance in China, where VW deliveries of pure electric vehicles fell by more than a third in the first half of the year.
