Volkswagen e-Golf Surpasses Nissan LEAF As Top-Selling EV In Europe

The Nissan LEAF has begun to face stiffer competition — with regard to growing electric vehicle (EV) sales from other manufacturers — as the market has continued developing.

No longer can you more or less simply assume that Nissan’s signature EV will reign at the top of the pile, as evidenced by the fact that the Volkswagen e-Golf actually took the top spot from the LEAF in “West Europe” during the first two months of 2015 — January and February.

According to the figures provided by the AID Newsletter, the Volkswagen e-Golf was the leading EV (with regard to total sales) in the 17 countries (markets) referred to as being the “West European” ones. Altogether, the VW e-Golf reportedly saw 2,150 registrations in those markets during January and February — well above the 1,750 that the Nissan LEAF saw in these markets during the same period of time.

Much of this dominance is, according to the AID Newsletter, down to the huge growth seen in the always red-hot Norwegian EV market — which saw “a highly charged sales blitz in Norway” as the newsletter put it. When you look at the figures, it’s quite easy to agree with them — January and February saw 1,716 units of the VW e-Golf registered in Norway. Which means that roughly 80% of all registrations for that model during that time period were in the Scandinavian country.

As compared to the VW e-Golf registration figures in Norway, the Nissan LEAF ‘only’ saw a reported 556 registrations in the country during the same period of time. Which means that roughly 32% of total new Nissan LEAF registrations during that time were in Norway — showing a clear disparity in the international reach of the two models.

Still, you can’t fault Volkswagen for targeting a specific market so effectively. That figure of 2,150 registrations represents significant growth. It’ll be interesting to see what the figures for the coming months show.

Image Credit: Volkswagen