Ford Kuga Among Europe’s Top 10 Best Selling PHEVs In January

In Europe, plug-in hybrids have long been a popular option among new vehicle shoppers, who can see the benefit of being able to travel short distances on electric power alone, but also, have a traditional gas engine present for longer trips. In that segment, the Ford Kuga PHEV has long topped the plug-in hybrid sales charts in the region, ranking as the best-selling plug-in for years now. The Ford Kuga PHEV did wind up slipping to second place in 2024, while the non-electrified version of the crossover ranked among the top 30 best-selling vehicles overall. Now, the Kuga PHEV enters the new year a bit further down that list.

According to new data from JATO Dynamics, the Ford Kuga ranked sixth on the PHEV sales charts in Europe in January 2025 after recording 2,446 sales – a significant 34 percent fewer than January 2024. The Volvo XC60 took the top spot with 5,001 sales, followed by the Volkswagen Tiguan and its massive 250 percent year-over-year increase, the BMW X1, Toyota C-HR, and Hyundai Tucson. This time around, the Kuga PHEV did beat out the electrified BMW 5-Series, Mercedes E-Class, BMW X5, and Cupra Formentor. Overall, PHEV sales decreased by six percent versus January 2024.

As for the overall European new car market, it experienced a decline of 1.9 percent versus January 2024, closing out the first month of 2025 with 993,068 sales in total. ICE vehicles suffered the largest drop at 10 percent, followed by plug-in hybrids at a six percent loss. EVs, on the other hand, saw their sales soar by 38 percent year-over-year to 166,000 units, even though Tesla suffered a 45 percent decline versus last January. At least part of that phenomenon can be blamed on Chinese vehicles, which enjoyed a 52 percent increase to 37,134 units.

“The market saw significant year-on-year growth in December 2024, largely due to the implementation of incentives and last-minute deals towards the end of the year. The removal of these has contributed to the decline in the number of passenger car registrations,” said Felipe Munoz, Global Analyst at JATO Dynamics. “The solid performance of BEVs is particularly impressive given the significant dip in sales that Tesla experienced in January. It’s not unusual for sales to drop just before a new generation or an updated model is introduced to the market, as the brand reduces the production of the existing model in anticipation of the new release. This is likely to be what Tesla is experiencing before it rolls out the refreshed version of the Model Y, after which it can expect to see sales pick up again.”