Europe April 2025: BYD above Tesla for the first time, Renault Clio #1

The Renault Clio is the best-seller across Europe for the first time since November 2021.

According to data by JATO Dynamics, the European (28 countries) new car market is stable in April at +0.1% year-on-year to 1,078,521 units. After four months, the YTD tally is also up 0.1% to 4,467,681 sales. Once again BEVs are the star of the show, with registrations up 28% to 184,312 and market share growing from 13.4% to 17.1%. PHEVs do even better at +31% to 97,715 and 9.1% share vs. 6.9% a year ago. As a whole, rechargeable vehicles hold 26.2% of the European new car market which is a new record. SUVs continue to tighten their grip on the European market, up 6.6% to 589,258 and 54.6% share vs. 51.3% in April 2024. Finally Chinese carmakers have pivoted from tariff-hit BEVs to PHEVs and continue to surge at +104.9% to 53,283 and 4.9% share vs. just 2.4% a year ago.

Looking at the main OEMs, both the VW Group and Stellantis are stable, with the Renault Group up 1% in third place. Hyundai-Kia is also stable at #4 while the BMW Group (+7%) overtakes the Toyota Group (-10%) for 5th place. SAIC Motor (+27%) posts by far the biggest gain in the Top 10, with Ford Motor (+4%) also in positive, Mercedes (-1%) skidding and the Geely Group (-12%) in difficulty.

The Skoda Elroq is the #1 BEV in Europe in April.

Brand-wise, Volkswagen (-11.5%) and Toyota (-10.9%) both disappoint whereas Skoda (+11.4%) climbs to the third step of the podium, its highest ever also reached four times in 2024 from August to November. BMW (+2.7%) stays at #3 ahead of Renault (+6.4%). Peugeot (+10.6%) also shines year-on-year but drops to #7. Kia (+1.3%) is also up at #9. Cupra (+50.3%) and MG (+31.4%) stand out with splendid upticks in the remainder of the Top 20. The event of the month is below, with BYD (+349.2%) outselling Tesla (-49.6%) for the first time and by a large margin (almost 5,400 sales). A caveat to this result is that first months of each quarter are traditionally particularly weak for Tesla. Where it gets more interesting is looking at BEV sales only, and BYD is also above Tesla at 7,231 vs. 7,165.

This month despite a year-on-year drop the Renault Clio (-3.8%) is the most popular vehicle on the continent, a feat it hadn’t achieved since November 2021. The Dacia Sandero (-28%), having a very tough month, still manages a 2nd place overall and keeps the YTD lead. The Peugeot 208 (-6.6%) is down two spots on last month to #3 just as the VW Tiguan (+32%) posts the best performance in the Top 10, reaching its highest ranking since last October at #4. The Citroen C3 (+6.5%) is back up to #5 ahead of the Toyota Yaris Cross (+12.9%) and Dacia Duster (+16.6%) both very impressive whereas the VW Golf (-29.5%), T-Roc (-21.1%) and Toyota Yaris (-12.8%) all crater.

Taking into account BEV sales only, Volkswagen (+61%) reclaims the top spot above BMW (+5%) but Tesla (-49%) freefalls to #11. Skoda (+214%), Renault (+58%), Kia (+55%) and Audi (+48%) all excel while BYD (+169%) is up to #10. Citroen (+246%), Ford (+240%), Mini (+190%) and Cupra (+133%) all surge. Model-wise, the recently launched Skoda Elroq takes the lead for the first time with just under 8,000 sales ahead of the VW ID.3 (+34%), ID.7 (+640%) and ID.4 (+3%). The new Kia EV3 and Renault 5 follow. #1 last month, the Tesla Model Y (-53%) is down to #9 just as the Tesla Model 3, #2 in March, is down -41% to #24. 

Previous month: Europe March 2025: BEVs up 23.6%, Tesla down -29.2%, Peugeot 208 #1

One year ago: Europe April 2024: Volvo, Toyota, Suzuki shine in market up 12%

Full April 2025 Top 10 OEMs, Top 98 All brands, Top 541 All models, Top 25 BEV brands and Top 25 BEV models below.