Renault ZOE beats Tesla Model 3 to number one spot in Europe

The Renault ZOE pipped the Tesla Model 3 to top the sales charts in 2020 as Europe's best-selling pure-electric car.

In a year that saw total sales of battery-electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids rocket to 1.42 million, the French car-maker took the lead spot with an impressive 99,261 sales of the Renault ZOE – a 118 per cent year-on-year increase in a total EV market up 147 per cent over 2019.

Tesla wasn't too far behind with 85,713 Model 3 sales, despite the US sedan costing considerably more than the small French hatchback.

However, the Model 3's result represents a nine per cent fall over 2019, when the US brand took the top spot.

In third place, despite only going on sale in the middle of 2020, was the all-new Volkswagen ID.3, which racked up 56,118 new registrations in less than six months.

Lifting Volkswagen bosses' spirits in a post-Dieselgate world was the knowledge that in December the pure-electric hatch was actually the second best-selling car overall, with an incredible 27,997 models shifted.

Only the Volkswagen Golf was capable of outselling it (just), with 30,073 sales.

Strong sales of the Volkswagen ID.3 could not prevent the VW Group from missing its CO2 targets that will lead to a large EU fine, despite the car-maker now accounting for more than 25 per cent of all electric vehicle sales if you count the e-Golf and Audi e-tron in the figures.

The sales success of its latest electric car means the Volkswagen Group has now overtaken Tesla as Europe's biggest EV brand. The US car-maker's EV market share dropped from 31 per cent in 2019 to just 13 per cent last year.

When it came to plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) in Europe, the Mercedes-Benz A 250e was the biggest seller in 2020 with 29,470 units, overtaking the last year's victor, the Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV, which posted only 26,673 sales in 2020.

In third place was the Volvo XC40 Recharge T5, followed by the plug-in hybrid version of the Volkswagen Passat.