Volkswagen’s popular EV proves to be top of its class

By Paul Fenech

Last updated: Apr 12th 2022

Share article

With thousands of orders received since it was launched, the ID.3 earns itself Europe’s best-selling electric car accolade

After its first year in the European market, Volkswagen’s ID.3 has gained incredible popularity. And to be fair, more than 144,000 people who ordered it surely can’t be wrong. What’s more, not only are these figures remarkably impressive, at least from Volkswagen’s perspective, another statistic that stands out is that more than 70,000 of those orders came from customers who had never driven a VW before…that’s a whopping 50% of orders coming from new customers and making it Europe's best selling electric vehicle in 2021.

Europe’s most popular

Putting all that into perspective; on average, the percentage of new customers purchasing other VW models currently stands at 36%. But, since the ID.3 appeared on the scene, the demand to own it has simply sky-rocketed, especially throughout Europe. In a relatively short space of time, countries such as Germany, UK, Ireland, Austria and Switzerland soon announced it was their most popular electric car on the market. This has forced manufacturing to be increased at its Zwickau plant in Dresden, Germany, where over three shifts and using two assembly lines, 1,200 ID.3 cars are currently rolling off the production lines every single day. Plus, so much is its popularity, China will soon begin production at its Anting plant, where it will be launched later this year.

Although these statistics make for interesting reading, Volkswagen decided to survey all of its ID.3 customers in Germany to find out not only why they purchased it, but to discover their user behaviour too. The company found that 60% bought or leased the car based on its environmental performance, while 51% preferred the innovative technology. However, one fundamental aspect was the personal support provided by VW’s dealer and service network.