Electric car sales increased a little in 2024 in Europe, but there are many models, and as such lots of competition for sales.
This leaves a lot of models hard done by. Lots of the cars on this list are not necessarily bad (some are), but they are struggling for sales for other reasons.
Some of them have only just been introduced or discontinued, while others are only sold in a few countries.
We guarantee this list will improve your knowledge of Chinese models, and give you some relief if you think they’ll takeover the world – remember, all of these are selling worse than the Fisker Ocean…
Let us know if you’ve seen any of these on the road in the comments.
Mercedes EQT – 916
Despite sales posting a 36% increase on 2023, the EQT is selling very well. It’s a rebadged Renault Kangoo electric, fitted with extra seats, but its expensive and not a popular shape for family cars.
BYD Han – 861
Disappointingly for BYD, its flagship has posted a 1% sales drop. It may be stylish, but that’s not reflected in sales.
Honqi E-HS9 – 753
Honqi was one of the first Chinese electric brands to hit Europe when it showed the E-HS9 off in Berlin in 2019. Sales of this massive SUV were up 233%, but they’re still pretty disappointing.
Toyota Mirai – 718
Has hydrogen got a future? Toyota still believes so, and although sales of the Mirai are relatively tiny, they’re slowly growing. This year they were up 11%.
Genesis GV60 – 701
For a brand with the backing of Hyundai, a 47% sales drop will be really disappointing for Genesis and their best-selling model (including petrol cars). What’s stopping it from reaching success? It’s an impressive car.
Maxus Euniq 6 – 698
Maxus sold nigh on the same number of these as it did last year, which will make the brand difficult to sustain as this is their best-selling model.
BYD Sealion 7 – 565
Released late last year, BYD will be hoping to sell a lot more of these large electric SUVs this year. Will European consumers warm to more expensive Chinese SUVs?
DR 1.0 – 555
DR Automobiles rebadge Chinese built models – their smallest is this, which is based on the Chery eQ1.
Nio EL6 – 545
Nio once promised an awful lot, and seemed like it was going to deliver, but this was their best-selling car in 2024. At least sales were up a massive 319%, although it’s not looking so rosy overall in Europe for them.
MG Cyberster – 523
The most stylish on this list? The Cyberster does look great, and MG should be pleased with these sales figures considering it wasn’t on sale at the start of the year and production is still ramping up.
Lucid Air – 499
Lucid is still establishing itself in its home US market with the 960km (597 miles) Air. Europe is not a priority, but the expensive Air managed to increase sales by 204% still. Expect more growth next year.
Aiways U5 – 496
Another struggling Chinese brand in Europe, it’s best-selling model, the U5, was down 31% from 2023.
Nio ET7 – 407
Another Nio, this time a large electric saloon, but it can’t compete with German rivals. Sales were down 47%.
Rolls Royce Spectre – 399
Comfortably Rolls Royce’s best seller in Europe, Spectre sales grew 359% from last year. It looks like their customers approve of the electric transition.
Voyah Free – 396
The Free is available as both a hybrid and EV, so we don’t know exactly how many EVs were sold as our figure includes both. Still, it’s not going to be impressive either way.
Cadillac Lyriq – 395
GM is hoping that Cadillac’s electric models will make more of a splash than the petrol ones ever did. Judging by this, it’s a slow start, although more models will soon be added.
Xpeng P7 – 367
The G6 and G9 SUVs are selling quite well for Xpeng, unfortunately the handsome P7 is not. Sales were up 2% year on year though.
Seres 5 – 358
Owned by Chinese giant DFSK, Seres has failed to make an impact in Europe.
Nio ET5 – 327
Another Nio, and another sales drop. This time by 58%.
Evo 6 – 306
Not the famous Mitsubishi Lancer, but another Chinese SUV, this time made by Forthing. Evo have had more success with its 3 and 5 models.
Maserati GranTurismo – 283
This is another model which has the petrol and electric models mixed together, so all we can say is that the actually number of electric ‘Folgore’ GranTurismo sold is less than 283…
Leapmotor C10 – 278
You may not realise it, but like the Maserati this is a Stellantis product for Europe. Leapmotor currently build their cars in China, but will soon move to Poland – they only launched at the end of 2024, so expect much larger sales this year for their models.
VinFast VF8 – 273
VinFast, a Vietnamese company, promised big cars and big sales in Europe and North America. The cars have arrived, but the customers aren’t interested in them.
Dongfeng Box – 232
Cute and affordable, Dongfeng hope the ‘Box’ will prove a hit with customers this year, in its first full year on sale.
Fiat Ulysse – 218
A sister product to the Vauxhall/Opel Zafira, Peugeot Traveller and Citroen SpaceTourer, the Fiat is the one selling the worst by a large margin. With sales down 28%, how long will it last?
Nio EL7 – 182
Not to repeat ourselves, but it’s another Nio. This one’s sales collapsed by 53%.
Alpine A290 – 176
Only being on sale for a few days in 2024, we’ll forgive the A290 for its low sales tally. We think it deserves to be a hit, as a hotter version of the brilliant Renault 5.
Nio ES8 – 173
The penultimate Nio on this list, its sales were down 48% on last year.
Lotus Emeya – 159
Having been on sale for a good proportion of the year, Lotus probably hoped to sell more of their big saloon than this. It’s about 5% of the Eletre SUVs sales.
Honda E – 155
E production ended in 2023 after a few years of weak sales, so it’s no surprise it sold so little in 2024.
Hyundai Inster – 143
Another model that barely was on sale before 2024 ended, expect the Inster to do much bigger numbers on 2025.
Seres 3 – 123
The other Seres product in Europe has fared even worse than the 5.
Maxus Mifa 9 – 117
Another Chinese Maxus, this time a massive MPV hoping to become a favourite for airport taxi services. It is looking unlikely at the moment.
Opel/Vauxhall Frontera – 113
With sales barely starting in 2024, Opel will hope the Frontera will be a hit this year.
Genesis G80 – 108
We don’t know what the split between petrol and electric G80s was last year, but either way it is not looking good for either model. In fact, for 2025 the European G80 has gone EV only, but we’re not sure this will change much against a 48% drop in sales.
Fiat Grande Panda – 104
We love the new Panda, and it only went on sale in late December, so expect it to fare much better this year.
Ora 07 – 92
It’s almost impossible to sell less than a 100 cars per year in a continent of 750 million people unless the cars are very expensive. Ora’s are not, so don’t expect the 07 to last long here.
Yudo Y 3 – 84
Ever heard of Yudo? Neither had we, which probably explains its positioning on this list.
JAC eJS1- 81
JAC launched in Europe with a trio of models last year. This is the only electric one, and it’s the second-best seller.
Nio EL8 – 75
Finally, it’s the final Nio on this list.
Maxus Euniq 5 – 61
With sales down 62% for this model, it’s not looking good for Maxus overall in Europe.
Maserati GranCabrio – 59
Like the GranTurismo, we don’t know how many of the 59 GCs sold were electric. Hopefully Maserati sell more of this pretty convertible this year, as it was only introduced late last year.
Skoda Elroq – 46
Another example of a model that’s just been introduced, this year Skoda will be hoping the Elroq is in with a shot of becoming its best-selling model.
Abarth 600e – 43
We’ll give Stellantis a break for this one, because it had only just gone on sale before the end of 2024.
Elaris Beo – 41
The Beo is a rebadged Skywell BE11 (which features later on in this list) that saw its sales drop by 71% when compared to 2023. As the Beo was its best selling model, its therefore unsurprising to learn that the firm went into bankruptcy in January 2025.
Hyundai Nexo – 30
The second hydrogen car on this list is selling significantly worse than the first, the Toyota Mirai. Hyundai had hoped to challenge Toyotas dominance in this sector, but the Mirai offers for range for a lower price.
VinFast VF6 – 26
The second VinFast model sold in Europe hasn’t been a success either, although, to be fair, last year was its first on the market.
Skywell BE11 – 24
With sales down 37% on 2023 (down from 38 cars) the future of Skywell is not looking well.
Elaris Pio – 17
Elaris’ other model, the Pio, saw its sales slide by 96% as it was discontinued before the brand was disbanded.
JAC E30X – 14
A new entrant onto the market, and it’s a copy of a Chinese car – the GWM 03 to be exact (which used to be called the Funky Cat). The 03 sold 3614 cars last year.
Voyah Dream – 13
Sales for this massive MPV increased by 550% last year! From only two units in 2023.
Smart ForFour – 13
Despite being discontinued in 2021, Smart was still selling off excess stock in 2024. Hopefully they have got rid of them all by now.
BMW I3 – 12
Perhaps even more surprising than the Smart, because the BMW was quite a popular car in its day. Despite that, there were still leftovers sitting in dealerships despite production ending in 2022.
GMC Hummer – 11
Unsurprisingly, there isn’t a queue of people looking for a Hummer in Europe, even if its green credentials have improved on the original. However, that won’t worry GMC, they sold 20,000 of them in North America.
Dongfeng M-HERO – 6
This beastly looking vehicle was fresh on the market last year. We’ll have to see if it can compete with the Land Rover Defender in terms of sales this year.
Zhidou D2S – 6
This tiny thing is a sister car to the Elaris Pio, and equally unsuccessful it would seem. Sales were down 68% when compared to last year.
Maxus Mifa 7 – 5
Despite a push into more markets, Maxus struggles to sell its Mifa line, especially so with the 7.
BYD Seagull – 4
As it had only just been introduced in 2024, we’re expecting the Seagull to sell in much larger numbers in 2025 thanks to BYDs extensive dealer network.
Aiways U6 – 4
The second Aiways model on sale in Europe is faring even worse than the U5 – sales were down 87% from 2024.
Rimac Nevera – 4
Rimac has openly admitted that it is struggling to find buyers for its 2 million euro hypercar, despite only 150 being produced.
Denza D9 – 3
Another massive Chinese MPV on this list, and another struggling to find buyers it would seem.
Xpeng G3 – 2
So, here we have it, the worst selling EV in Europe, but surprisingly not the worst selling car overall. The Rolls Royce Wraith, Alpina D5, WEY Coffee 01 and Hyundai Ioniq all sold just one unit, but like the G3, they’ve also all been long discontinued.
In its heyday, Xpeng sold almost 18,000 G3s across Europe, but by 2023 that had dropped to just 27 as more competitive rivals came onto the market – the G3 managed just 300km (190 miles) on a charge.
