Tesla's Q1 Collapse Fueled VW's Shock Rise In The EV Race

• VW's global EV sales jumped by 59% to 217,000 in Q1, fueling Tesla's sales slowdown.
• Fully-electric sales climbed 51% in the US, but they skyrocketed 113 percent in Europe.
• There was also some bad news for VW as EV sales in China tumbled by 37% Jan-March.

Tesla's sales sank alarmingly in Q1, falling 13 percent to 337,000, a fact that on its own would be enough to make Volkswagen's German execs crack a wry smile. But what they'll really have them bro-hugging in Wolfsburg is knowing that Tesla's misfortune is almost certainly linked to VW posting record EV sales figures over the same period.

Related: Tesla's European Sales Have Collapsed, Down 45% As EV Market Surges 31%

Sales of fully-electric VW Group vehicles jumped 59 percent in the first three months of the year, reaching 216,800 compared with 136,400 in Q1 2024. By comparison, Tesla reported 336,681 deliveries in the same period, down 13 percent from last year. But even that success is dwarfed by what happened in Europe.

EV sales there exploded by 113 percent to 158,100, up from just 74,400 a year earlier, no doubt helped by widespread dislike of Tesla CEO Elon Musk, particularly in Germany, where Musk came out in support of the far-right AfD party. A poll last month found 94 percent of Germans wouldn't buy a Tesla due to the CEO's antics. That sentiment appears to be hitting where it hurts: in Q1, Tesla's sales in Germany plummeted 62 percent compared to the same period last year.

US sales also grew significantly, Americans taking home 19,900 EVs, representing a 51 percent increase. But there was bad news from China where EV sales plummeted 37 percent to 25,900 units. And although the global EV sales result is definitely worth celebrating, it ought to be viewed in the context of the sales of vehicles of all power types.

VW GROUP EV SALES

That number did improve, but only by 1.4 percent to 2.13 million units, the decline in demand for combustion cars offset by both the surge in demand for EVs and a 15 percent uptick in PHEV sales. Overall sales in China were down 7 percent, the only region to see a fall.

VW's best-selling EV globally was the ID.4/ID.5, which racked up 43,700 sales, followed by the ID.3 hatch with 28,100 deliveries. Audi's Q4 e-tron – a reskinned ID.4 – placed third with 22,800 sales, the Skoda Enyaq found 20,200 buyers and VW's ID.7 scored 19,100 sales.

Porsche's Macan Electric only ranked seventh with 14,200 sales but since it wasn't on sale in Q1 2024 its appearance in this year's Q1 helped Porsche's EV deliveries jump by 326 percent.

EV SALES BY BRAND