EV sales in Europe soar in January while the rest fall

In January 2025, new vehicle sales in Europe fell overall compared with the same month of the previous year, according to data just released by the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association. However, the significant increase in demand for electric vehicles kept the decline from being even steeper.

The report also highlights that, while some manufacturers managed to increase their electric vehicle sales, others such as Tesla and Stellantis posted worse results than in the same month last year. January was also seized upon by some Chinese manufacturers to position themselves in this market.

Looking at more specific data, last January in the European Union new vehicle registrations fell 2.6 percent. France recorded a 6.1 percent drop, Italy 5.8 percent and Germany 2.8 percent. In Spain, however, new vehicle registrations grew 5.3 percent.

Electric vehicles are picking up in Europe

Despite this general drop in new vehicle sales, with the Spanish market as the exception, sales of electric vehicles in the European Union grew strongly by 34 percent, also bringing the market share of this type of vehicle to 15 percent. Almost two thirds of all those electric vehicles were registered in Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium, with strong increases of 53.5 percent, 28.2 percent and 37.2 percent, respectively.

Plug-in hybrids, meanwhile, did not get the year off to a good start, falling 8.5 percent in registrations. Conventional hybrids, including mild hybrids, took 35% of sales, even surpassing petrol at 29.4 percent and diesel at 10 percent. It is also worth noting that combined sales of these last two fell by nearly 30 percent compared with the same month last year, so there is a clear trend towards electrification in the European market.

Finally, it is important to point out the significant sales drop recorded by Tesla in January, with a 45 percent fall in sales. In the first month of 2025 in the European Union, slightly fewer than 10,000 vehicles of the brand were registered, compared with 18,000 registered in the same month last year.

What could be the reason for this?

Although there is much speculation about the reasons for this drop in sales, we should not forget that all Model 3 units arriving in Europe come by ship from China and that shipments arrive in batches. This does not happen in North America or China. It is therefore quite common for sales in one month to be very low and then surge the following month, as all accumulated orders are delivered once the ships have arrived.

Likewise, as regards the Model Y, given that the renewal of this electric SUV was announced in China precisely at the beginning of January, it seems quite logical to think that many European customers may have preferred to hold on to their money and wait for the updated model to become available.

In short, before drawing hasty conclusions, the most sensible course in our opinion is to wait and see how sales of Tesla evolve in Europe over the coming months.