VW Beats Tesla Where It Hurts Most And The Numbers Are Brutal

• Volkswagen's global EV sales rose more than 14 percent in the first half of 2025.
• The VW brand shifted almost 193,000 electric vehicles, passing Tesla in Europe.
• Tesla recently revealed its global sales declined by 14 percent in January-June.

What a difference a couple of years can make. In 2023, Tesla was crushing it in Europe, the Model Y was on its way to becoming the first ever EV to top the continent's year-end best sellers league table, and VW announced it was pausing production of the ID.3 and its Cupra Born electric twin due to slow sales. But just two years later, Volkswagen is reveling in a surge of EV demand that has helped it overtake its American rival.

Related: Tesla's European Sales Bloodbath Continues, But One Country Is Over Hating Musk

According to the latest figures, the VW Group delivered 4.41 million vehicles of all energy types around the world in January-June, a 1.3 percent increase on 2024's total. But global BEV sales were up a staggering 47 percent, reaching 465,000 (464,200 if you discount commercial trucks), and in Europe they rocketed by 89 percent to 347,900 deliveries.

Though Tesla hasn't broken out its European sales figures, it has confirmed that global sales fell 14 percent to 384,000 in the first half of the year. And Dataforce numbers revealed that Tesla had only sold 76,400 units in Europe between January and the end of May, a period in which the core VW brand alone shifted 122,600 EVs. The report says VW tied with Tesla in March's sales race but trounced it in every other month, selling three times as many cars in April, for example.

Delivering more electric cars is important for VW's image as it continues to put distance between itself and the Dieselgate scandal that keeps coming back to life via various ongoing court cases. And it's also crucial if VW is to meet the EU's draconian CO2 fleet limits.

VW GROUP EV SALES

But VW's sales success is the result of discount campaigns on cars like the ID.3 hatch, Handelsblatt cautions, and that is putting pressure on Wolfsburg's bottom line. A senior VW exec told Handelsblatt the company is still making money on its EVs, but that the operating margin is below the 6.5 percent return target it has set for 2029.

VW is hoping its new range of affordable EVs on sale from next year, including the ID.2 and Cupra Raval, will help improve the health of those margins.

VW GROUP EV SALES BY BRAND