Peugeot is behind on EV sales: The boss explains why

Peugeot is lagging its Volkswagen Group arch rival for electric car sales – and boss Alain Favey has told Auto Express why. 

While Peugeot’s European sales are up three per cent in the first eight months of the year, only 15 per cent of those 560,000 registrations are pure electric. In contrast, more than 20 per cent of Volkswagen and Hyundai Motor Group registrations are strictly zero-emission.

“It’s no secret that Peugeot is stronger in the regions where, unfortunately, EV demand is very low,” Favey explained to Auto Express. “So compared with the other brands you mentioned, the geographical footprint means they will have a higher BEV level than us.”

Peugeot is obviously strong in France, where EV sales have dipped slightly in 2025, and Spain and Italy where EV adoption is slower. The UK and Germany are big EV markets, countries where Volkswagen and Skoda are more dominant, along with Norway and Denmark.

Favey also suggested Peugeot’s ‘multi-energy’ strategy – offering one car with a choice of pure-electric, petrol and hybrid drivetrains – gave customers the option of not going electric. 

“Our strategy is to leave the choice to the customer as to which energy they want to use. And that’s different from other brands, because they have vehicles that only exist as a BEV. If you want an ID.4, you don’t have a choice. [Our] customers always have the choice: if they want a 208 or a 3008, they don’t have to take a BEV.”

Favey reckons Peugeot may also be disadvantaged by its “upper mainstream” positioning – it’s yet to use Stellantis group’s lower-cost, ‘Smart Car’ platform, which underpins the Citroen e-C3. “Some other brands having the Smart Car platform might be in a different position in the market, allowing them to be maybe a bit more aggressive in terms of pricing than we are.”

That’s not the case in the UK, though: the Citroen starts at £20,595, including the UK Government’s £1,500 electric car subsidy – fractionally more expensive than the £20,245 Peugeot E-208 with the same grant. Like many of today's mainstream EV options, however, there are savings on the E-208 well beyond those provided by the grant. Pre-reg models are available with discounts of over £10,000 on list price via the Auto Express Buy A Car service.

Nonetheless, Favey says Peugeot is still the Stellantis brand that sells the most BEVs – and that the brand, and the group as a whole, is committed to electrification to meet its environmental obligations.

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