Volkswagen Group vehicles are starting to dominate electric vehicle take-up within the salary sacrifice sector, led by the Audi Q4 e-tron.

The Audi Q4 e-tron has toppled the Tesla Model 3 from the lead spot in Fleet Evolution’s salary sacrifice orders

New data from EV salary sacrifice and fleet management specialist Fleet Evolution shows the Volkswagen Group marques have taken the lion’s share of new electric vehicles ordered through its salary sacrifice schemes in the last six months, accounting for 36.48% of orders.

And while Tesla’s Model 3 has dominated EV take-up through the firm for a long time, it’s now been topped by the Audi Q4 e-tron, which took 15.68% of new vehicle orders in the last six months.

Fleet Evolution EV salary sacrifice orders for last six months:

In third place, although quite some behind the Tesla Model 3, was the Porsche Taycan,  followed by the Kia e-Niro in fourth spot.

Volkswagen Group models then claimed the next four places, through the Audi e-tron, Škoda

Enyaq, VW ID.3 and VW ID.4, and accounted for six of the top 10 best-selling EV models.

Fleet Evolution founder and managing director Andrew Leech said the data showed that the Tesla brand was losing some of its allure amongst the firm’s salary sacrifice customers, which total around 400 businesses with between three and 10,000 employees.

“The Tesla Model 3 has been our number one model for a long time. But we are now seeing its dominance eroded by VW Group models, probably as buyers move away from the saloon shape and towards the SUV models that dominate much of the UK and European new car markets.

“The Tesla has proved quite a quirky proposition and appealed to a certain type of individual who initially wanted an electric car to underline their green credentials – and at the time the Tesla was the only game in town.

“But our customers are now faced with a much wider choice of models, many of which are from mainstream manufacturers and very competitively priced, and they are more willing to be a little more adventurous in their choice of vehicle – as our order banks confirm,” he said.

“At the same time, more employers, in a very competitive labour market, are realising that a salary sacrifice electric vehicle scheme is an excellent way of attracting the best talent and so are willing to make such schemes more widely available,” he added.

The firm’s data shows just how much in demand EV salary sacrifice is in the current market.

“We are having a record year, with orders up 150% on last year when a number of lockdowns and a huge amount of uncertainty caused by the Covid pandemic put a stranglehold on orders,” continued Andrew Leech.

“But, with more certainty, the nationwide vaccine roll-out and a return of business and consumer confidence, we have seen orders rebound very strongly as more employees realise what an attractive proposition an EV on salary sacrifice is.”