Q1 2023 EUROPEAN ELECTRIC CAR STUDY RESEARCH:
Tesla topped all manufacturers in terms of new models entering the roads of Western Europe's pure electric new car market during this year's opening quarter across the 18 market region. Tesla started the year with significant price cuts in tandem with its European production ramp-up, which exclusively manufactures the Model Y for Europe, and saw its weekly production rate rise to 5,000 units per week, according to the Elon Musk-led company.
Austrian data, which indicates a split between the country of origin, identified that Q1 2023 was the first quarter to see European-manufactured Tesla models account for the majority (53%) of Tesla models entering the roads in the central European Alpine market.
Back to Western Europe, the Model Y (70,500, +170%y/y) accounted for three-in-four Tesla models delivered across the region so far this year. In contrast, the Model 3 (18,700), imported from China, accounted for 20% of all Tesla models, while its volumes declined by 41.7% over the same period last year. The remaining 2,500 units were made up of the Model S and X imported from the US, according to the latest monthly research from the European Electric Car Study published next week (May 6th).
The combined VW Group BEV models accounted for 88,500 units, or just over 3,000 units fewer than market leader Tesla.
According to the same report, both manufacturers combined accounted for 43% of all pure electric passenger cars entering the 18 market West European region, which saw 419,000 new BEVs enter the region accounting for 14.4% of all new passenger car registrations. Furthermore, with PHEVs added to the equation, well over half a million (640,000) plug-in cars were registered during Q1 accounting for more than every fifth new car (22%).
Back to BEVs, Chinese brands accounted for 29,600 units, with SAIC's MG brand accounting for more than two in three of those (complete data in the study). BYD, which entered the Norwegian market in August 2021 and the broader West European market during the final quarter of last year, saw fewer than 1,000 models enter the market, while premium manufacturer NIO counted fewer than 500 models entering the region during the opening quarter of 2023.
More in-depth reporting in the full study published each month. The study now also features an in-depth look at the Chinese OEMs as their European expansion slowly begins. Are Chinese OEMs really a threat to the established European OEMs and what does the outlook look like?
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*Western Europe 18 Markets: EU Member States prior to the 2004 enlargement plus EFTA markets Norway, Switzerland, Iceland, plus UK