Stellantis aims to become Europe's top seller of battery-electric vehicles, ahead of Volkswagen and Tesla.
"We are head on fighting for the top spot in terms of BEV sales in European market," CEO Carlos Tavares told analysts on Stellantis’ first-half earnings call last week.
In the first half, Stellantis sold 105,413 full-electric cars in Europe, just behind VW Group, which sold 116,307, and ahead of Tesla, which recorded 78,277 sales, according to figures from data provider Dataforce.
The figures include registrations in EU countries plus the UK, Switzerland, Iceland and Norway. Data from Portugal, Sweden and Finland were not available.
Stellantis’ push in Europe was led by the Fiat New 500 small hatchback, which was the best-selling full-electric car in Western Europe in the second quarter, according to analyst Matthias Schmidt. It was the first time that honor did not go to a Tesla model since the last quarter of 2020, Schmidt said.
The New 500 was the best-selling full-electric car in Italy and Germany in the second quarter, Tavares told investors. Another key Stellantis electric model was the Peugeot e-208 small car, which took the top EV spot in France in the same period, he said.
Tesla’s sales total was affected by coronavirus shutdowns at its factory in Shanghai, which builds Model 3 sedans for export to Europe. At the same time, the company is just ramping up production of the Model Y crossover at its new factory outside of Berlin, which came online in March.
"Tesla witnessed regional quarterly volumes fall to their lowest levels in two years on the back of their Chinese COVID shutdown," Schmidt said in a report at the end of July.
Even so, Tesla models still held the first two spots in Europe in the first half, according to Dataforce. In the first half, Tesla sold 39,969 Model Ys, while Model 3 sales fell by 25 percent to 38,280. The New 500 was third, with 32,315 sales and the 208 was fourth, with 21,918. The best-selling VW Group model was the Skoda Enyaq, in fifth, with 19,951 sales (see chart, below).
Stellantis benefited from a particularly strong second quarter, Schmidt said. The group’s EV offerings from Citroen, DS, Fiat and Opel/Vauxhall more than doubled Tesla’s Western Europe sales, 60,560 to 25,140. VW Group registered 67,760 sales in the quarter.
The group also gained from sales of several thousand full-electric passenger vans, after discontinuing most of its internal-combustion based offerings at the start of this year to avoid exceeding its EU emissions targets.
The Citroen Berlingo compact van totaled 956 sales in the first half, compared with just 24 in the first half of 2021, while the sibling model Opel Combo, new on the market, had 866 sales, according to Dataforce.
Key EV models to be launched in the next year include full-electric versions of the Peugeot 308 and Opel Astra compacts, as well as the new Peugeot 3008 compact SUV.
Stellantis is likely to face a stronger Tesla in the second half, as coronavirus lockdowns end in China, Berlin production speeds up and semiconductor supply constraints ease as expected.
Tesla is "set to return with a bang in the third quarter," Schmidt said. "We expect Tesla to strengthen again in Europe in the second half of the year with an estimated 200,000 units," he said.
Automobilwoche contributed to this report
