Chinese brands surged 121% year on year in April automotive sales, with BYD dethroning Tesla as the bestselling BEV brand, figures released by JATO Dynamics show. EV sales outperformed an otherwise flat market.
Overall, a total of 1,078,521 new cars were registered across 28 European countries in April, just 1,399 more than the same month last year. The year to date total of 4,467,681 units was just 6,560 units more than in the first four months of 2024.
Symbolic data point
However, in an otherwise stable market, electric vehicles are on the rise. Full-electric BEV registrations were up 28% compared to previous April (to 184,312 units), hybrid PHEVs were up 31% (to 97,715 units). BEVs and PHEVs together now account for 26% of all new car registrations in Europe.
Perhaps the most significant, and certainly the most symbolic data point in the April figures was the fact that, for the first time ever, registrations of new BYD vehicles now outnumber new Teslas.BYD sales surged 169% compared to previous April, to 7,231 units. Tesla sales meanwhile dropped 49%, to 7,165 units.
Skoda Elroq
“Although the difference between the two brands’ monthly sales totals may be small, the implications are enormous. This is a watershed moment for Europe’s car market, particularly when you consider that Tesla has led the European BEV market for years, while BYD only officially began operations beyond Norway and the Netherlands in late 2022,” says Felipe Muñoz, Global Analyst at JATO Dynamics.
While BYD and Tesla are currently Europe’s largest manufacturers of electrified vehicles (BYD produces both BEVs and PHEVs, while Tesla only builds BEVs), neither come close to being the largest EV selling brand. In April, that was Volkswagen (with 23,514 units), followed by BMW (14,867), Skoda (13,598), Audi (11,958) and Renault (10,328). BYD and Tesla come in on the 10th and 11th place, respectively.
Europe’s favourite BEV model this April was the Skoda Elroq (just under 8,000 units registered), followed by Volkswagen models ID.3, ID.7 and ID.4 (ach registering between 6,000 and 7,000 units).
Hungarian HQ
It is likely that Chinese models will soon run up the popularity rankings: registrations of Chinese-made cars (mainly BEVs) shot up by 121% in April (to 53,283 units). In addition, BYD has recently announced that they will set up their European HQ in Hungary, to strategically position themselves inside the European Union, as a way to better tackle the European market.
Photo Source: shutterstock_2383447793
