Though it may be one of the very last ICE-powered Blue Oval models sold in Europe as the automaker works to transition to EVs by 2030, the Ford Kuga remains a popular option in that particular region, regardless. In fact, the crossover was among the top 20 best-selling vehicles in Europe last year, while the plug-in hybrid model was the region’s top-selling PHEV in 2022, a trend that continued into this year. The Ford Kuga PHEV’s hot streak kept going in the first-quarter of 2023, in fact, as it once again occupied the top spot on the European sales charts, according to new data from JATO Dynamics.
In the first quarter of the year, the Ford Kuga recorded 12,499 sales in Europe, a nine percent increase, year-over-year. That ranked it well ahead of the second-place Volvo XC60, which raked in 9,459 sales, as well as the Lynk & Co 01, Kia Sportage, Volvo XC40, BMW 3-Series, Hyundai Tucson, Mazda CX-60, Jeep Compass, and Kia Niro.
While the PHEV market as a whole posted flat sales results in Q1, the all-electric segment helped drive growth by recording a 33 percent increase versus Q1 of 2022. The overall European new vehicle market enjoyed tremendous success as well, with new vehicle registrations increasing by 26 percent to 1,414,815 units in March, and by 17 percent in Q1 to 3,220,806 units – the highest number since 2019, which experts credit to a ramp up in production as supply chain issues begin to ease.
“The increase in registrations is largely explained by accumulated orders from months previous that could not be delivered due to the lack of components at the time,” said Felipe Munoz, Global Analyst at JATO Dynamics. “We’ll be watching closely to see how this growth is impacted by further inflationary pressure in the coming months.”
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