Symbolic: Tesla Model Y Best-Selling Car In Germany In September 2022

The best-selling car in Germany in September 2022 was the Tesla Model Y; a headline that actually hides some half-truths, as Tesla usually accumulates deliveries in the last quarter of the year. But it is also true that the huge production ramp up at the Berlin Gigafactory is allowing that to happen, to the terror of German and other European ICE (Internal Combustion Engine) legacy manufacturers in general.

During last month – September 2022 - the Tesla Model Y basically managed to accumulate deliveries of 9,846 units in Germany. Something that has already positioned the brand as the most popular EV model in this competitive market, traditionally very attached to its national brands. A milestone that, in addition to being a huge media and marketing boom, represents also the first time that an American-made electric car from the Austin brand manages to climb to the top position in sales in Germany.

The data shows that behind the Model Y the Volkswagen Golf came in second place with 7,095 new registrations, followed by the Volkswagen Tiguan, with 5,887 registrations, the Škoda Octavia in fourth position with 5,786 units, and the Volkswagen T-Roc, with 5,135 units. This can actually be interpreted in many different ways: on the one hand, the German market - like most of Europe - is still leaning towards SUVs, with a 31.4% market share, and right there Tesla has in fact managed to hit the mark with a German-made model; that is, national - made in Germany - production: a very strong argument indeed.

On the other hand, we see that the sedans also continue to have their market space, and right there Tesla also strikes with a Model 3 that managed to place itself again in the first position in the premium segment, with 3,878 units. This means that the Tesla Model Y alone accounted for just over 4.5% of the German car market and just over 22% of SUV sales in Germany. Together with the Tesla Model 3, the two American models have managed to capture 6% of the German car market.

Other good news for Tesla is that the delivery line is smoothing out thanks to the increased speed of production at its Berlin Gigafactory, after the latest summer updates and upgrades. For instance, in April - right after the end of the first quarter - it achieved only 277 units, while in July, after the second quarter, the figure went up to 1,035 units. Then it jumped to 4,216 units in August, again jumping to almost 10,000 units in September.

As for deliveries of the Model Y in Germany during 2022, the exact numbers are as follows: in January 142 units were delivered; in February 2,254 units; in March 2,529 units; in April 277 units; in May 112 units; in June 2,144 units; July 1,035 units; in August it went up to 4,216 units; and in September there was this peak of 9,846 units delivered.

We can easily notice that Germans are turning to electric cars at an ever faster rate: last September pure, battery electric vehicles (BEV) accumulated a total of 44,389 units delivered, which basically shows a market share of 19.94% of sales. If we add the plug-in hybrids, then the share in September goes up to 32.5% of all registrations. As we can see, this is an EV area where Tesla has achieved a sales quota of 30.9% last month, far ahead of second placed Volkswagen with 11%, and Hyundai with 6.6%.

Tesla is managing to carve out an increasingly large gap in this market, as we can see, and not only in Germany, as in the same period the Model Y was the second best-selling model in the United Kingdom as well. This marks a significant change for Tesla in Europe as a whole. Many analysts believed that Tesla would lose market share when new EV models from legacy brands arrived in Europe, but as we can clearly see, this is not happening at the moment.

Source: heise

All images courtesy of Tesla Inc.

Nico Caballero is the VP of Finance of Cogency Power, specializing in solar energy. He also holds a Diploma in Electric Cars from Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands, and enjoys doing research about Tesla and EV batteries. He can be reached at @NicoTorqueNews on Twitter. Nico covers Tesla and electric vehicle latest happenings at Torque News.