These are the most popular electric cars in Switzerland – two manufacturers are leading the way

With the Tesla Model Y, an electric car was the best-selling car in Switzerland for the third time in a row in 2023. The Model Y was not only the best-placed electric car, but also more popular than all gasoline and diesel vehicles.

Last year, a total of 6,173 Model Ys were newly registered (+1,537 compared to the previous year). The electric SUV, which cost 46,000 to 61,000 francs, was already the most popular car in Switzerland in 2022.

Close on Tesla’s heels is Skoda’s electric SUV Enyaq with 5159 sales (+2065 compared to last year). With the Audi Q4 in 7th place, there is another fully electric car in the top 10 of all new cars, as the graph below shows.

In 2023, Elon Musk's Model Y has once again left behind long-running favorites such as the Skoda Octavia station wagon, VW's Tiguan or the Audi Q3. Tesla's market share in Switzerland increased from 3.5 to 3.9 percent compared to the previous year.

However, this was only possible with significant price reductions. Tesla has slashed prices to keep growing. The American car manufacturer achieved an important prestige success: with the Model Y, an electric car was the best-selling car worldwide for the first time. Musk could achieve this feat again in 2024, especially since a revised version of the bestseller will be released later this year.

The most popular electric car manufacturer in Switzerland is not Tesla

Although Tesla is at first glance the most popular electric car manufacturer in Switzerland, Volkswagen, with its brands VW, Audi, Skoda and Cupra, sells by far the most electric cars in total.

The VW Group ranks second to fifth in the Swiss electric car statistics for 2023. There are a total of five all-electric German models in the top 10, as this chart shows.

Every second electric car from VW and Tesla

The VW brands have a market share of approximately 36 percent in the electric car segment. Tesla follows with about 16 percent. In total, about every second new electric car last year came from the VW Group or Tesla.

In addition to the large SUV models in places one to three, the compact models VW ID.3 and Cupra Born in places four and five also continue to sell well. These two electric cars from the VW Group are technically almost identical and would jointly reach third place.

Tesla's Model 3 – still the best-selling car in Switzerland in 2021 – fell to ninth place. Many customers were probably waiting for the revised Model 3.

The Swiss electric car market remained firmly in the hands of Volkswagen and Tesla last year. In total, ten of the twenty best-selling models come from German manufacturers. With the exception of Volvo and Polestar, which belong to the Chinese Geely group, the emerging Chinese electric car manufacturers are not yet in the top 20. This is partly because the global electric car market leader BYD acquired Tesla from China. at the end of 2023 and still not entered the Swiss market.

Electric cars are increasing, but...

In total, 52,728 new electric cars rolled onto Swiss roads, an increase of 31.3 percent compared to 2022. “With a market share of 20.9 percent, more than one in five new passenger cars on the roads in Switzerland or Liechtenstein hit the road, fully operationally electric,” writes the Swiss Auto Association. However, growth has slowed compared to previous years.

“The growth of electromobility continues, but less strongly than expected,” summarizes the electromobility association Swiss eMobility.

In addition to the 20.9 percent of electric cars, the partially electric plug-in hybrids had a market share of 9.2 percent. In total, approximately every third new car had a charging connection. In contrast, the market shares of fossil combustion engines fell from 37.8 to 33.3 percent for gasoline and from 11.7 to 9.3 percent for diesel.

The dominance of fossil combustion engines is slowly but surely melting away, but petrol and hybrid cars are still much more in demand than electric cars and plug-in hybrids. Passenger cars with gas or hydrogen propulsion, on the other hand, remain absolute exotics with a market share of almost 0 percent.

The big hurdle: too few home charging stations

A lack of home charging stations slowed down development, writes the E-Mobility Association. Growth will therefore “continue to be supported by one of the best public charging networks in the world.” According to Swiss eMobility, approximately 4,000 public charging stations will be added throughout Switzerland by 2023. E-motorists now have access to approximately 17,000 publicly accessible charging infrastructures.

The trade association still fears that Switzerland could lose touch with electromobility. The growth of electric cars is lagging behind expectations.

A look at Norway shows that there is a lot of room for improvement in Switzerland: last year, 82.4 percent of new cars sold in Norway were fully electric, and another 8.1 percent were partially electric (plug-in hybrid). Gasoline cars still had a market share of 1.2 percent.