Tesla Model 3 crushes the German car market with +453% new Tesla registrations in March

Model 3 has taken Europe by storm — especially after Norway's recent craziness for Tesla's lower-priced sedan. Now, it appears Germany is also falling in love with an American car that doesn't pollute the environment.

Above: Tesla reaches record new car registrations in March 2019 with +453% growth with Model 3 deliveries (Source: X Auto via Kraftfahrt-Bundesamt (KBA))

Kraftfahrt-Bundesamt (KBA) - Federal Motor Transport Authority of Germany - just released new car registration statistics for the month of March along with year-to-date figures which also compares growth year-over-year as well (high-res chart below) — it turns out that Tesla is the only company with three digit growth this year.

For the month of March, Tesla vehicle registrations grew by +453% compared to the same month last year and YTD growth rocketed to +439.9% — surely this was triggered when Model 3 shipments started to arrive in February.

The total number of registered Teslas in the month of March is 2,367. And, at the end of Q1 2019, the toll now stands at 3,596.

With the second quarter of the year just starting, this trend only seems to be going higher. According to reports, Tesla Model 3's German inventory is almost depleted — the company is awaiting new shipments to arrive.

In any event, let's take a look at the new vehicle registration chart for March and YTD via Kraftfahrt-Bundesamt (KBA) to see how Tesla has started impacting Germany's automotive scene.

Above: New vehicle registrations stats in Germany for the month of March and Q1 2019; also showing growth in comparison to the same period in 2018 (Source: Kraftfahrt-Bundesamt (KBA))

Tesla's closest competitor appears to be Volvo with a +35.9% increase in new car registrations, which is ~12 times less than Tesla's numbers. Nissan's new car registrations are down by a staggering -40%. Keep in mind, this is a company that once boasted impressive EV market share with its Nissan Leaf but now it seems to be losing traction.

Internal combustion engine (ICE) and hybrid car manufacturers are also losing ground in the German market: Alpha Romeo (-33.1%), Honda (-38.2%), Land Rover (-19.1%), Porsche (-34.3%), Toyota (-7.5%), and VW (-2.0%) (note: all figures are YTD 2019 vs. 2018).

Jaguar, despite the launch and sales of its I-Pace electric SUV, is still showing a -14.2% loss in new registrations when compared with Q1 2018. And, Germany's own Mercedez-Benz barely holds its position with just -0.2% loss in new vehicles registered.

Many factors could be causing downward trends at legacy automakers in the German market. Nevertheless, it's probably safe to say that the Tesla Model 3 is having (and will have) a significant impact.

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Written by: Iqtidar Ali. An earlier version of the article originally appeared on X Auto.