In addition to weaker sales, exports increased, so the picture of the EV market in Croatia is even worse

There are many signs about how the demand for electric cars is growing, but people are still not inclined to this type of vehicle. There are many theories, and the numbers are inexorable. They tell their story and show how much local, Croatian drivers really like (read: buy) electric cars. Therefore, we used data from the agency Promocija plus, which deals with market research, including the automotive market. According to the same data on an annual level, the data about electric car registrations are not very good.

More brands than the year before

In fact, 38 different brands of electric cars were registered last year. That is five brands more than there were during 2024. And that is certainly a good direction, but it is by no means accompanied by quantities. While there were 1,915 registered electric passenger cars in 2024, last year there were 1,334 of them. This is a drop of as many as 581 units, or a shortfall of 30.3%. However, sales of delivery models increased slightly. Last year there were 108, and the year before there were 81. These are all miserable numbers.

Last year, only four brands managed to achieve a three-digit result, of course, when we talk about personal models. These are Volkswagen (102 vehicles), Ford (106 vehicles), BYD (211 vehicles) and Tesla (353 vehicles). Tesla is still convincingly the leading brand, but still with far fewer registered vehicles compared to the year before when they had 601 vehicles. BYD has just arrived on the market, so those 211 vehicles are an excellent result for the first, incomplete, year of operation. Ford had 11 registered electric passenger cars a year earlier, so this is an excellent increase, and I believe that they are also satisfied at Volkswagen, because they had an increase from 70 to 102 vehicles. We are talking about a rise in a market that is on a downward trajectory.

In addition to the already mentioned brands, we should also highlight those that were at the very top a year ago. The second most requested brand during 2024, after Tesla, was Renault with 195 copies. It is now in 11th position with 31 vehicles. Reason? They no longer offer Twingo, which had a very good price, and there was a demand for a ‘higher copy’. In third place was Hyundai with 165 registered EV vehicles, while last year it finished in fifth place with 88 vehicles. Behind Hyundai was Dacia with 143 units, while last year it had only four of them. Reason? As with Renault. The first generation Spring model was no longer sold at a low price. MG was still at the top with 134 vehicles, while Opel had two less. Last year, the aforementioned Chinese manufacturer had 21 registrations, while Opel had only two.

City models are wanted

If we look at sales by model, the first two places are still held by Tesla, but with a change of position. Namely, last year the most requested was Model Y with 239 copies, followed by Model 3 with 113 units. A year earlier, the Model 3 had 371 registrations, and the Model Y had 225 of them. We also received one copy of the Tesla Model S. This is where the biggest problem that Tesla will have in the coming period – a small range of vehicles. In addition to the above, they only have the Model X. Last year, not a single one was registered, the year before only one, and in 2023 there were seven of them. Although Tesla prepared cheaper versions for the Model 3 and Model Y a few months ago, they lack an even more affordable model.

The third and fourth best-selling models last year were BYD Dolphin Surf with 89 copies and BYD Sealion 7 with 64 copies. Dolphin Surf shows that there will be a lot of demand for city models, while the Sealion 7 takes a share of the cake from Tesla’s Model Y. In fifth position is the Citroen C3, with the same number of copies as the BYD Sealion 7, and behind it the VW ID.3 with 59 units, as many as the new model on the market – the Hyundai Instar. The eighth most requested electric car last year was the Porsche Macan with 47 vehicles, and the same number was recorded by the Ford Explorer. Škoda Elroq completes the top 10 list with 36 vehicles. I still notice them on the road, which I can’t say about the model before it – the Ford Explorer.

Sales of EV models during 2025.

That was the reason why I researched which models left Croatia last year, that is, were only registered with us for a short time. It was immediately clear which brand is the leader in the export of electric cars. It is certainly Ford with as many as 85 examples, out of a total of 111 personal electric cars that were on this list. The just mentioned Explorer is the leader in that ranking. As many as 40 copies were deregistered from Croatian registrations, out of a total of 48 registrations that the Explorer had last year. So there are only 8 copies left. It is now clearer to me why this model is difficult to meet on domestic roads. And yes, don’t think the Explorer is the big SUV we’re used to seeing in American movies. Here, however, it is a slightly smaller model, not even a 4.5-meter-long model that is technically based on VW models.

The export of electric models is growing

It is followed by the slightly smaller Puma, which last year had 34 registrations, but also 30 registrations. And the third place in terms of cancellations went to Ford. Tourneo Courier model had 14 registrations and 10 registrations. So, we have four copies left. The fourth model that had the most registrations was the Hyundai Kona EV, which had 17 registrations and 7 registrations. The Tesla Model Y records the same number of registrations. It is followed by another Ford – Mustang. Ten copies arrived, four of which left Croatia. The same number of units of the Mercedes model EQS left our premises. Hyundai had three registrations of the Ioniq 5 N model last year, and we only have one left. Two copies of the Tesla Model 3, and one copy each of the Fiat 500e, XPeng G9, Hyundai Ioniq 6, Ford Capri and Mercedes G-Class also left.

So, to summarize, last year we had 1334 registrations of electric cars, i.e. 111 registrations. Accordingly, we have only 1223 personal electric cars left. The year before, there were those quick cancellations, but far fewer – 55 of them. More than half related to Hyundai models. They were Kona EV and Ioniq 5 and Ioniq 6, with a total of 29 copies. It was followed by Tesla with the Model 3 and Model Y in a total of 14 vehicles.

Declining demand for delivery models

There were some cancellations on the list of delivery models as well, but only two models. You guessed it – Ford. Three copies of the Tourneo Courier model and two copies of the Transit model were registered. That means there are 103 new delivery EV models left. The leading brand on this list is Peugeot with 25 vehicles, of which 20 are Partner, 4 were Expert and one Boxer. Opel had 18 registrations, 14 Vivaro and 4 Comba. Toyota is third with 15 registrations, which includes 8 Proace City Verso models and seven Proace models. Ford had 10 registrations, and we already mentioned how five of them left Croatia. Volkswagen had nine delivery examples of the ID.Buzz model, and Dongfeng had 8 examples of the EC75 model. Dacia registered 4 copies of the delivery Spring, Citroen three Berlingos, and Renault had two Masters and one Kangoo Van. Piaggio and Farizon also had two models each, and one each from BYD, Cenntro, Maxus, Esagono Energia, OHM and Melex.

Last year, some new brands appeared on the domestic market, primarily Chinese, which should definitely achieve some more notable results this year. Whether it will be like that, of course, is difficult to predict, but the perspective is significant because we are talking about increasingly better cars. What will influence this year’s electric car market are certainly incentives. Over 66 million euros are available for both delivery services and taxi drivers, as well as all other legal entities and trades. Let’s hope that they will prepare something for ‘ordinary citizens’ as well.