Tesla’s popularity in France has been strong enough to see it become the most popular electric vehicle (EV) and fifth most popular vehicle overall in the country, beating out two popular local automakers in the process.
In the first six months of 2021, a total of 13,084 Model 3’s were sold in France according to data from the statistics company AAA Data. That was more than enough to put it ahead of the electric Renault Zoe in second place, which amassed 10,797 sales.
Rounding out the top three was the Peugeot e-208 with 9,133 sales from January to June.
Not only was the Model 3 a big seller in the EV segment, the 13,084 sales was enough to make it the fifth most popular car in France overall. It was less than 600 sales behind the fourth place Renault Captur and nearly 300 sales ahead of the always popular Toyota Yaris.
Tesla’s impressive numbers was thanks in part to a strong performance in June, where more than 5,000 Model 3’s were sold last month alone. That was almost equivalent to the number of sales registered in Q1, when there were 5,763 new Model 3 owners.
It will be interesting to see if Tesla will be able hold onto its lead in the second half of the year. On July 1 the French government dropped the EV subsidy from €7,000 to €6,000. It will drop again to €5,000 on January 1, 2022.
