Tesla’s Model 3 stormed to the top of the Western Europe battery electric car sales charts in the first quarter of 2019, outselling the second best Renault Zoe with almost twice as many sales.
This is all the more remarkable because the Model 3 was only available for sale from February, and the price of the Tesla is probably more than twice and maybe occasionally even 3 times that of the little Zoe city car.
According to data compiled by Berlin-base automotive industry analyst Matthias Schmidt www.schmidtmatthias.de, Tesla sold 19,482 Model 3s in the first quarter compared with the second placed Zoe’s 11,049 and the Nissan Leaf with 10,315.
Tesla Model3 (Image: Wikimedia/Carlquinn)
Direct competitors to the Model 3 were way off the pace, with the Jaguar I-Pace in 7th place at 3,012 and the Audi E-Tron 11th with 2,526, according to Schmidt’s data.
Schmidt said the European competition may in fact be holding back its sales because next year, European Union (EU) carbon dioxide (CO2) regulations tighten sharply. Manufacturers may want to have the biggest number of electric cars in their fleets in 2021, to bring down the average emissions, and mitigate or avoid big fines. Meanwhile, the Tesla Model 3 has the chance to rack up big sales because its all electric fleet won’t suffer fines.
Read more: Forbes