Volkswagen Sales Surpassed Tesla in Europe Last Year

Volkswagen AG surpassed Tesla in battery-electric vehicle sales last year in Europe. The German automaker sold 49,704 fully electric vehicles (EV) across Europe in December, which were almost double of Tesla's registrations in the region.

Although Tesla topped Volkswagen and Toyota to become the most valuable automaker in the world, its registration in Europe fell by 12 percent. Senior analysts at Jato also comment that while, 2019 was Tesla’s year, 2020 was the year for European EVs, as reported by Bloomberg.

Automotive News Europe also reported that Germany's three big automakers accumulated massive amounts of cash late last year with Daimler, BMW and Volkswagen Group generating 13.3 billion euros ($16.1 billion) of free cash flow in the fourth quarter last year. This upward trend in the European auto industry also indicates signs of recovery from coronavirus disruptions.

It is also important to note that Volkswagen new ID.3 become the second best-selling car overall for the month as well.

In addition to this, Herbet Diess, Volkswagen CEO, also challenged to take on Tesla in a recent tweet which implied that the company is planning to launch a tri-motor electric car very soon.

Despite a rise in its sales, Volkswagen's future in Europe still remains unclear, especially when the automakers is facing 100 million euros in fines from the European Union for failing to comply with CO2 emissions targets in 2020.