Stellantis' European EV sales overtake Tesla, eyes top spot

Stellantis has comfortably overtaken Tesla in terms of electric vehicle (EV) sales in Europe in the first half of 2022, putting the company into the second spot and lagging not far behind Volkswagen.

The automotive firm, born out of a merger between PSA Group and Fiat Chrysler at the start of 2021, is now setting its sights on the top spot to become Europe's top seller of battery electric vehicles.

"We are head on fighting for the top spot in terms of BEV sales in the European market," said CEO Carlos Tavares in an earnings call, according to Automotive News. 

Read more: Stellantis quits ACEA & launches Freedom of Mobility Forum

Stellantis sold 105,413 EVs in the first half of 2022 in Europe, significantly more than Tesla's 78,277 and around 11,000 behind Volkswagen's 116,307, according to Dataforce figures published by Automotive News Europe.

The figures cover EV registrations in all 27 EU countries, except Finland, Portugal and Sweden for which figures were unavailable, as well as Iceland, Norway, Switzerland and the UK. 

According to Berlin-based automotive analyst Matthias Schmidt, the top-selling electric car from Stellantis in Europe was the Fiat New 500, which also became the best-selling EV in Western Europe in the second quarter. This was the first time that a Tesla model did not achieve that honour since the fourth quarter of 2020.

Tesla saw a slowing down of European sales amid the Covid lockdowns at its plant in Shanghai, which builds Model 3 sedans and Model Y crossovers for export to Europe, as well as slow production at its new plant outside Berlin which began making the Model Y in March.

Nonetheless, Matthias Schmidt anticipates Tesla to "return with a bang in the third quarter" as China ends its lengthy lockdowns, production in Berlin increases and the semiconductor shortage begins to ease. Schmidt expects Tesla to deliver around 200,000 units in Europe in the second half of 2022.

Read more: New survey reveals obstacles to EV adoption in the UK

Despite sales falling to the lowest levels in two years, Tesla models still held the top two places in the first half. The Model Y was in the top spot with 39,969 sales, with the Model 3 in second with 38,280. In third place was the Fiat New 500 with 32,315 sales, followed by Peugeot's e-208 with 21,918. Volkswagen's top-selling EV, the Skoda Enyaq iV, took fifth place with 19,951 sales. 

Stellantis' overall sales figures also included several thousand electric passenger vans including the Citroën ë-Berlingo company van, which achieved 956 sales, and the Opel Combo-e, with 866.

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