Europe And EVs - A Blossoming Relationship
Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) delivered around 96,000 units to the key European EV market in 2020. But in Europe, Tesla's cars were overtaken in popularity by Volkswagen (OTC: VWAGY) and Renault (OTC: RNLSY). Sales of electric vehicles by European car makers accelerated rapidly in 2020 amid severe fines for car markers whose fleets don't meet new emissions targets and generous incentives for buyers to trade in their ICE vehicles.
Volkswagen
Volkswagen reported it delivered 212,000 electric cars across the globe in 2020, which is 158% more than in the year prior. 134,000 of those vehicles were battery-electric vehicles, which grew 197% compared with 2019. Volkswagen also said that its ID. 3 model was the top-selling car in Sweden in December by absolute numbers. All-electric Volkswagen models were on top the Netherlands and Germany, taking approximately 23% of each country's BEVs market.
Mercedes Benz
On January 8th, Mercedes-Benz-owner Daimler (OTC: DDAIF) said that the brand sold more than 160,000 plug-in hybrids and all-electric vehicles in 2020, representing growth of more than 228% from 2019. The share of EVs in Daimler's sales mix rose drastically from 2% in 2019 to more than 7% in 2020. Also, Mercedes-Benz brand remained the world's top-selling luxury carmaker for the fourth consecutive year.
Renault
Renault reported that it doubled its electric-vehicle sales in Europe. While group sales fell more than 21% in 2020, its EV sales grew 100% growth from 2019 to 115,888 vehicles. Moreover, total orders at the end of December 2020 were up by 14% compared to December 2019, which was attributed to new hybrid offerings. EVs were the only good news in an otherwise bleak 2020 for the French carmaker, which underperformed both global and European car markets. At the very least, Renault avoided fines as it met its 2020 EU emissions targets. On January 14th, its chief executive officer Luca de Meo will present a strategy update which is expected to include reviving some older best-selling models as all-electric models.
BMW
BMW (OTC: BMWYY) which also owns Mini, said that its two brands combined sold 192,646 electric vehicles in 2020 marking an increase of nearly 32% from last year. BMW also met its 2020 EU emissions targets.
Takeaway
European governments have created generous incentives to speed up the adoption of EVs, making them much more affordable. Come 2025 when emission targets become more stricter and threat of fines for not respecting them even greater, Tesla will certainly be playing against fully-fit opponents and could even potentially struggle. An EV-only future looks closer than ever in Europe as the race is now on to challenge Tesla's leadership.
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