Who says global EV sales are sluggish? Global EV sales (including BEVs and plug-in hybrids) rose 19% year-on-year to 1,314,687 units in March, the third-best month on record, behind December (1,556,728) and November (1,385,000), according to CleanTechnica. Thanks to strong sales in March, global EV sales reached 3,216,366 units in the first quarter of this year, up more than 25% year-on-year, and the market share of EVs also increased by 2 percentage points to 16%, of which BEVs accounted for 10% of the market share.
China remains the main force in the global electric vehicle market, with 16 of the world's top 20 best-selling electric models on the list in the first quarter, an increase of 2 compared to the same period last year. Among the top 20 best-selling electric vehicle brands in the world, Chinese brands occupy 9 seats.
Q1 Global Top 20 Electric Vehicle List: China accounted for 16 seats, and only 4 foreign cars
In the first quarter of this year, Tesla's global deliveries fell in a rare year-on-year decline, and sales of its flagship model, the Model Y, also fell 5.7% year-on-year. However, despite this, Tesla's Model Y still won the title of the world's best-selling electric vehicle model, leading the second place BYD Song (including pure electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids) by nearly 120,000 units; And BYD Song also comfortably stayed in the runner-up position.
The main change came from third place. The BYD Qin Plus (which includes BEVs and PHEVs) surpassed the Tesla Model 3 to move into the top three thanks to its record performance in March (52,305 units). Does this mean that by the end of the year, the Tesla Model 3 will not be in the top three? It is still difficult to say, on the one hand, BYD's internal model competition is also fierce, the new BYD Qin L is about to be launched, and it may steal some of the limelight from the Qin Plus, so the Model 3 will benefit from this. On the other hand, the Model 3 has had a bad start to the year, with global deliveries falling 20% year-on-year in the first quarter, which is a worrying sign for a model that has just been renewed, and if the Model 3 is finally knocked out of the top three, it will be the first time since 2017.
Outside of the top three, the BYD Seagull (known as the Dolphin Mini in overseas markets) surpassed the M7 to reach fifth place, followed by the M7, but the M7 needs to be wary of the BYD Yuan Plus (called the Atto 3 in overseas markets) and its sales gap of less than 3,000 units, and it is likely to be surpassed by it in the next month or two.
In addition, it is worth mentioning that BYD Han (BEV+PHEV) jumped 3 places to 10th, which also made BYD occupy 6 seats among the 10 best-selling electric models in the world in the first quarter; BYD's other model, the Destroyer 05, has also been improving, with sales reaching a record 19,153 units in March, moving it up two spots in the first quarter and now in 13th place.
The two Aion cars also recovered some momentum in March, re-entering the TOP 20 list, ranking 16th and 17th respectively. Outside of the top 20, the Audi Q4 e-tron is also poised to re-enter the list, with only 300 units separating it from 20th-placed Geely Panda mini.
It is worth noting that among the 20 best-selling electric models in the world in the first quarter, only 4 are foreign-funded models, and in addition to Tesla, the other two cars are Volkswagen ID.4 and ID.3, which are also the only two electric models from traditional auto giants on the list.
Q1 Global Top 20 Electric Vehicle Brand List: Wenjie's sales soared, and Aion recovered
In terms of the brand list, BYD's price reduction wave did not disappoint, ranking first firmly in the first quarter, nearly 200,000 units ahead of the second place Tesla; Tesla's sales fell in the first quarter as the wave of deliveries subsided, and supply chain issues caused by the upgrade of the production line at its California factory, the suspension of production caused by the arson near the Berlin factory, and the conflict in the Red Sea. Despite this, Tesla's EV sales are still three times that of third-place BMW.
In addition to BYD and Tesla, which are far ahead, the competition between other brands is slightly fiercer. After beating BMW in February to enter the top three for the first time in a long time, Wuling was overtaken by BMW at the end of the first quarter. However, Wuling's performance is also very impressive, thanks to the launch of the third-generation macarons and Binguo, Wuling's global sales in the first quarter increased by 33.3% year-on-year, exceeding 100,000 units.
Mercedes-Benz saw a record 38,069 units in March, thanks to a strong offensive of its EQA, EQB and GLC PHEVs, which also moved it up two spots to fifth place in the first quarter.
Thanks to the surge in sales of the new M7, the sales volume of Wenjie soared by more than 6.3 times year-on-year, but the upward momentum of Wenjie was blocked by its direct competitor Ideal, which also saw its sales soar by 66.7% year-on-year, ranking 7th.
In the second half of the list, the Aion brand benefited from the recovery in sales of its two models, the Aion S and Aion Y, and its ranking also rose three places to 11th. The remaining highlights came from legacy brands, with Kia rising to 14th and Hyundai to 17th. In addition, Ford returned to No. 19 on the list, and Peugeot also beat Zeekr to return to No. 20 on the list.
BYD Tesla's market share declined, and Geely Ideal climbed
With the emergence of more and more new electric vehicles and the rise of new brands, BYD and Tesla's share of the global electric vehicle market will inevitably be eaten, of which BYD's market share fell by 2.2 percentage points from the first quarter of last year, and Tesla's market share is even worse, losing 4.5 percentage points from the first quarter of last year. Overall, however, BYD and Tesla are still the big ones, with the two major brands accounting for one-third of the global electric vehicle market.
Other losses include traditional auto giants Volkswagen and BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Volvo's share is flat year-on-year, in contrast, Geely brand competitiveness in the global new energy market has steadily improved, market share has also increased by 0.8 percentage points year-on-year, ideal share has also increased significantly, up 0.7 percentage points, and Wenjie and Wuling have also increased their market share with the launch of new models.
In the future, it is foreseeable that the market share of leading brands such as BYD and Tesla may be further eaten, and at the same time, the rise of more emerging brands will also make the global electric vehicle market bloom.