Tesla Model S OUTSELLS Mercedes S Class and BMW 7 Series in EUROPE

The Tesla Model S sold more in Europe in 2017 than either the Mercedes S Class or BMW 7 Series, and the Tesla Model X SUV wasn’t far behind the Porsche Cayenne.

The Tesla Model S EV has managed to outsell the big German premium competition – cars like the Mercedes S Class and BMW 7 Series – in the US for some time. But now it’s happening in Europe too.

For the first time in 2017, the Tesla Model S sold more in Europe than either the S Class or 7 Series, with the Model S posting sales of 16,132, the S Class 13,359 and the 7 Series 11,735 (JATO).

But it’s not just the Models S doing well in Europe for Tesla; the Model X SUV managed to shift 12,000 units too, about the same as the Porsche Cayenne.

Of course, there are reasons why the Tesla models are doing so well.

For a start, there are big incentives in many European countries to buy EVs – which don’t exist for big premium ICE cars – with Norway perhaps the biggest example. 

Norway has a population of just five million (Europe as a whole is anything up to 750 million depending on which countries you include) but it bought 23 per cent of all the Model S bought in Europe in 2017 and a massive 40 per cent of all Model X.

But even though the market is skewed by incentives – and Norway especially – premium car makers in Europe are now playing catch-up in an electric market which has suddenly become important – and left them in Tesla’s wake.

But the next two years are perhaps going to define the future for Tesla as the big premium makers get their act together, with the Jaguar i-Pace and Audi e-tron quattro arriving soon to tackle the Model X, and the Porsche Mission E readying to take aim at the Model S and, it seems likely, an electric Jaguar XJ planned to do the same.

Perhaps Tesla should make hay before their sun sets?