Renault Zoe is best selling European EV in the first half of 2020

The Renault Zoe has emerged as the top-selling electric vehicle (EV) in Europe during H1 2020, after the June sale of 10,000 vehicles trebled the figure from the previous month. The period saw more than 36,000 Zoe EVs sold, compared to 33,000 Tesla Model 3s and 18,000 VW e-Golf models. The figures are in contrast to those from Australia, where the Zoe has been withdrawn because of low sales. Total EV sales doubled in H1 2020, despite a 24% fall in overall car sales. In Europe, Renault has sold 300,000 Zoe EVs, and roughly 33% of sales were in France.

The Renault Zoe has proven the best selling electric vehicle in Europe for the first half of 2020, with more than 10,000 sold in June, tripling sales from the previous month.

The pleasing results for the French car maker means that the popular Zoe – which is being withdrawn from the Australia market because of poor sales and a lack of EV strategy and policy – is ahead of Tesla’s Model 3 in Europe, where EV sales are now rebounding from a Coronavirus-induced sales slump.

Overall auto sales are still recovering from their Covid19 slump, and for the first six months to June 30 are down 24% from the same period a year earlier. EV sales, however, are have doubled, according to

His data shows saw all-electric and plug-in hybrid sales doubled from the year earlier period to 93,000 registrations in June, bringing total plug in registrations for the first half of 2020 to 400,000, an 8.2% share of the overall market. (In Australia, the market share of EVs remains at less than 1 per cent).

More than 36,000 Renault Zoe EVs were sold in the first half of 2020,

All in all, Renault has now sold more than 300,000 Zoe EVs across Europe, a third of them in Frace where its 52kWh model is in full swing.

Once the ID.3 arrives in September, Pontes spins a positive outcome for the market as Volkswagen fills 30,000 First Edition orders, which”added to some 11,000 Zoe’s and 17,000 Model 3’s, “should provide 58,000 registrations for September in just 3 models!”

This, he says, added to some 70,000 units from the remaining market, will bring registrations to a 11-12% market share which he predicts will be a tipping point for the market.

As for Tesla, Pontes says that by September we should expect to see Model 3 sales in five digit figures again as production and shipping gets back to normal post-Covid, and he still places the Model 3 as the odds on favourite for 2020’s overall best seller.

Even without this expected surge, the Model 3 is outselling its segment competitors tenfold, with just 3,776 high-priced Jaguar I-Paces and 2,937 Mercedes-Benz EQC (due to low production volume suggests Pontes) have been sold to the end of June.

Audi’s e-Tron also begs a mention – with more than 13,500 sales under its belt for the first half of 2020, Pontes says the VW stablemate’s domination in the all-electric E-segment, placed against against 3,111 Taycan sales and 2,506 Model S sales, is “unquestionable”.

For plug-in hybrids, the Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV remains the best seller for the first half of 2020, with a little more than 14,000 units sold.

However, the big surprise is the Ford Kuga PHEV, which in June sold more than 3,600 units, and more than its entire PHEV sales for 2013 – 2019! This earned it the title of top selling PHEV for June.