The giants of Germany's automotive sector tripled the European sales of electric vehicles last year to almost 600,000, far outpacing Tesla on the continent as they raced to hit new carbon emissions reduction targets.
Volkswagen ID.3. Credit: Rutger van der Maar / Flickr
Volkswagen ID.3. Credit: Rutger van der Maar / Flickr
Volkswagen delivered a total of 5.3 million cars last year, 212,000 of which were either hybrid or solely battery-powered - an increase of 158% on 2019.
Of those, 158,000 were sold in Europe where automakers are facing the real threat of enormous fines from Brussels if they are unable to reduce fleet-wide emissions.
Also read: Tesla commences construction of world's largest battery factory plant near Berlin
Sales of pure electric vehicles from VW stood at 117,000, outstripping the 96,000 sales made by Tesla - at one point considered the EV standard - across the bloc by around 20%, according to new data published by automotive analyst Matthias Schmidt.
The group has yet to confirm whether or not it fell short of EU targets, though it was announced in November that the company was close to compliance due to a late-year surge in ID.3 sales, with CEO Herbert Diess saying they could make it by "a gram or so".
The ID.3, Volkswagen's flagship electric car, only went to market in September after software problems caused significant delays in production. In total, VW sold 56,500 ID.3s in 2020.
The BMW Group, the owner of the Mini and Rolls-Royce brands, said that electric and hybrid vehicles accounted for 15% of total European sales, enabling the Munich-based group to hit the EU emissions targets.
Daimler was also able to avoid fines, hitting the targets and tripling sales of Mercedes hybrid and EVs which accounted for 160,000 of the 2.2 million sales made in 2020.
Also read: Electric vehicle sales triple in 2020 as race to cut emissions continues
Despite an overall 20% decline in new car registrations, EV sales in Germany itself were aided by Berlin's decision in the wake of the coronavirus crisis to double subsidies for those purchasing emissions-free vehicles. The policy meant that customers could receive as much as €9,000 off the retail price.
The subsidies scheme, which was originally due to expire this year, was extended by the government in November, now expiring in 2025.
According to figures released last week by the Kraftfahrt-Bundesamt (KBA), the German Federal Motor Transport Authority, December 2020 marked the first time the balance tipped, with electric and hybrids outpacing diesel engines in terms of market share.
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Germans purchased twice as many EVs as the next largest market in Europe - France - according to Schmidt.
“The German government, adding an extra turbo boost to domestic electric vehicle demand, up until now appears to have done the trick,” said the Berlin-based analyst, who added that rental and leasing prices for battery and hybrid cars were also at record lows.
The automotive sector overall saw sales fall last year, however. Volkswagen sales were down 15% worldwide, and 23% in Europe, with sales of Mercedes and BMW down over 7%, as the pandemic took its toll.
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