The monthly vehicle sales chart in Europe has been topped by US-based electric vehicle maker Tesla Inc, as its Model 3 was the top-selling car in the continent during September 2021.
Tesla's Model 3, while emerging as the first electric car to top the monthly European sales, has succeeded in edging past renowned vehicles like Renault Clio and Volkswagen Golf.
A total of 24,591 units of Model 3 were sold in Europe in September, Bloomberg reported citing the data shared by research firm Jato Dynamics. The nearest rival, Clio, is stated to have registered a sale of 18,264 units.
This, apart from being the first time when an electric vehicle has registered more sales as compared to gasoline cars, is also the first time in Europe when a non-European automaker has emerged as the monthly best-seller.
Tesla, with sale of 24,591 Model 3 cars in the continent, has marked a 58 percent year-on-year increase. However, overall car sales, which stood at 964,800 in September 2021 as per Jato's data, is 25 percent lower than last year.
“The growing popularity of EVs is encouraging, but sales are not yet strong enough to offset the big declines seen across other segments,” Jato said.
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The dip in sales to a large extent can be attributed to the global chip shortage, suggest experts. "Dealers continue to face issues with the availability of new cars due to the chip shortage,” AM Online quoted Jato analyst Felipe Munoz as saying.
"As a result, unwilling to wait more than a year for a new car, many consumers have turned to the used car market," Munoz reportedly added.
The electric vehicle segment, which is growing at a pace quicker than expected, is also aided by government policies which is incentivising the switch away from fossil fuel-based vehicles.
The increase in the quantum of Tesla's sales is also being attributed to the company's solid quarter-end delivery push. "The end of quarter delivery wave is unusually high this time," Reuters reported the company's CEO Elon Musk as saying in an internal mail last month.
Tesla delivered 241,300 vehicles globally in the July to September quarter, up 73 percent from a year earlier. Analysts had expected the electric car maker to deliver 229,242 vehicles, according to Refinitiv data.
General Motors , Honda and some of its bigger rivals posted declines in U.S. sales in the third quarter, hit by a prolonged chip shortage. GM's third-quarter U.S. sales fell nearly 33 percent to its lowest level in more than a decade.
Tesla said it delivered 232,025 of its Model 3 compact cars and Model Y sport-utility vehicles and 9,275 of its flagship Model S and Model X cars to customers in the quarter.
Total production in the third quarter rose over 15% to 237,823 vehicles from the prior quarter.
With Reuters inputs
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