Tesla Tops List Of Electric Car Sales In Germany, Beats Volkswagen Group

Tesla employees in Berlin celebrate the creation of the 2000th Tesla Model Y. (photo: Twitter @tesla)

JAKARTA - Tesla now topped the sales of battery-electric vehicles in Germany in the first nine months of this year at nearly 38,500. German federal government data also shows that the US car manufacturer has outperformed the Volkswagen brand, which only has about 6,000 vehicles.

Tesla's battery-electric sales jumped nearly 50% from the January-September period last year, while Volkswagen fell 40% to more than 32,300 in line with a broader decline in most Volkswagen Group brands in Europe's biggest auto market.

According to data from the federal motor transport authority, only Audi and Seat saw an increase in the number of battery-electric cars registered in Germany among the Volkswagen Group brands,

Globally, the Volkswagen Group saw total battery-electric vehicle shipments rise 25% in January-September compared to a year earlier. These are the figures released by the automaker last week.

But supply chain bottlenecks have hit the automaker in Europe, where inflation and rising energy costs are also weighing on demand.

Across all vehicle types, combustion engine, hybrid, and battery-electric, global Volkswagen Group vehicle shipments are down 12.9% this year, as they reported last week. Europe was the hardest-hit region in terms of declining sales.

"The tense situation in component supply has repeatedly led to adjustments in production. We expect supply stabilization over the coming year," a Volkswagen spokesman said of the data, as quoted by Reuters.

Tesla has seen record shipments globally but is also struggling with logistics challenges and fewer deliveries in the third quarter as analysts expected. This is all due to the unfavorable economic conditions at the end of this year.