6,705
West European electric car sales in March

The good news for electric car makers is that March set a new all-time record for electric car sales in Western Europe. 

AID’s own exclusively compiled figures show a more than doubling in March sales to a highest-ever 6,705 units, easily beating the region’s previous best monthly sales tally. 

Moreover, in March electric cars made up five tenths of one per cent of all cars sold in Western Europe, bringing sector sales penetration at this year’s first quarter point to an only marginally slimmer 0.4 per cent. 

A sign of progress, this compares to just one-quarter of a per cent during last year’s opening quarter. 

But the conceivable sense of optimism portrayed by these latest developments is not quite what it seems.

Dig below the headline figure, and it is all too clear why Europe’s 2014 electric car sales season got off to a flying start. 

This is due in large measure to this year’s meteoric climb in Norway’s electric car sales. 

This comparatively tiny Nordic market, which stands out on its own as an electric car owners’ paradise, soaked up almost half the electric cars sold in Western Europe in March...more