TeslaIts reign as the best-selling electric vehicle (EV) brand in Europe has come to an end Volkswagen experienced significant sales growth, returning to the top spot it last held in 2022 and becoming Europe’s best-selling car brand overall in 21 consecutive year in 2025.
Accordingly Automotive NewsVolkswagen sold 274,417 electric vehicles in Europe last year, up 56 percent from the previous year, while Tesla sales fell 27 percent to 238,765.
This represents a significant turnaround after Volkswagen – which closed several factories in 2025 – was outsold by Tesla two to one in electric vehicle sales in Europe in 2024.
It also comes as a Chinese manufacturer BYD pushed Tesla off the top spot in global electric vehicle sales for the first time in 2025.
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However, the Tesla Model Y remained Europe’s best-selling electric vehicle despite a 28 percent sales decline to 151,331 units, ahead of the Skoda Elroq (94,106), the Tesla Model 3 (86,261) and the Renault 5 E-Tech (81,517).
Volkswagen took the next three spots, led by the ID.4 with 80,123 sales (up 23.8 percent), ahead of an update to the mid-size electric SUV in 2026, while the smaller ID.3 electric hatch (not sold in Australia) was up 44.4 percent year-on-year to 78,667.
The ID.7 large electric sedan/wagon, which is not currently sold in Australia, saw the strongest growth of 137.2 per cent with sales of 76,368.
Automotive News Electric vehicle sales in Europe rose around 30 percent to 2,582,595 units in 2025, according to Dataforce figures, which include the United Kingdom.
Despite the strong result in Europe, Volkswagen sold 0.2 percent fewer electric vehicles globally in 2025, with 382,000 deliveries compared to 383,100 in 2024, although electric vehicles accounted for a higher share of 8.1 percent of the 4.73 million total sales – up from 7.9 percent.
While Volkswagen lost ground in North America and China, with losses of 8.2 and 8.4 percent respectively, Europe was one of the German auto giant’s two most important growth regions in 2025.
The company also recorded an increase of 18.1 percent in South America and an increase of 5.1 percent to 1,318,100 sales in Europe. This makes Volkswagen the automobile manufacturer with the highest sales in the region for all drive types.
In addition to being the top seller of electric vehicles on the continent, Volkswagen also sold more plug-in hybrids (PHEVs), more gasoline-powered vehicles and more diesel vehicles than its rivals.
It beat the runner-up Peugeot in gasoline sales, Mercedes Benz in diesel sales and BMW in PHEV sales, while the remaining powertrain category – full hybrids – led Toyota.
In Australia, Volkswagen ended 2025 as the 10th best EV seller, but saw strong EV sales growth and ranked 14th overall, ahead of Tesla and Mercedes-Benz.
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