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The Tesla Model 3 has made history as the first electric car to top the European sales charts.
The electric Tesla Model 3 set two new European sales records during September 2021.
It became the first all-electric car to top the sales charts, along with being the first vehicle manufactured outside of Europe to take the top spot.
Against a backdrop of ongoing chip shortages, registrations of 24,600 Tesla Model 3s represented a 2.6 percent share of the market.
The new Tesla Model Y also sold well, with 8,926 cars registered across Europe. This made for an impressive showing in its first month on sale.
Tesla’s sales volume is inflated by the intensive end-of-quarter sales pattern used by the American brand. September has become a traditionally strong month for Tesla, accounting for around 68 percent of its third quarter deliveries since 2018.
September registrations accounted for 74 percent of all Teslas for the third quarter of 2021.
However, having outsold established brands such as Nissan, Fiat and Seat, the American company’s success is hard to ignore.
Tesla took almost a quarter (24 percent) of the electric vehicle market, ahead of the Volkswagen Group on 12 percent.
Models from Volkswagen occupied three of the top 10 electric vehicle sales. The Volkswagen ID.4 SUV was third, with 8,302 registrations. With 5,942 cars registered, the new Skoda Enyaq entered the charts in fifth.
Environmental concerns and chip shortage worries helped boost electrified vehicle sales. Having accounted for just five percent of new cars in September 2019, electric or plug-in hybrid models took 23 percent of sales for the same month this year.
Despite the strong showing for EVs, however, new car sales fell across Europe by 25 percent versus September 2020.