In July, global sales of plug-in electric cars exceeded one million units for the third consecutive time, suggesting that it might never go down to six digits again.
According to EV-Volumes data, shared by Jose Pontes, 1,104,592 new passenger plug-in electric cars were registered globally in July (41 percent more than a year ago). That’s about 16 percent of the total market.
Together with some 900,000 non-rechargeable hybrids, roughly a quarter of the global car market is somehow electrified – xEVs (BEVs, PHEVs, HEVs).
All-electric car sales exceeded 750,000 units and represented 11 percent of the total volume alone. Plug-in hybrids noted and almost 350,000 units and five percent of the market.
Plug-in car registrations for the month:
- BEVs: about *759,000 and 11% share
- PHEVs: about *345,000 and 5% share
- Total: 1,104,592 (up 41% year-over-year) and 16% share
* estimated from the market share
So far this year, more than 6.9 million plug-in electric cars were registered around the world, which is about 15 percent of the total volume.
Plug-in car registrations year-to-date in 2023:
- BEVs: about *4.85 million and 10% share
- PHEVs: about *2.07 million and 5.0% share
- Total: 6,937,134 (up 41% year-over-year) and roughly 15% share
* estimated from the market share
For reference, in 2022, more than 10 million new passenger plug-in electric cars were registered globally for the very first time.
Model rank
The Tesla Model Y without any surprise was the best-selling plug-in model in July with 77,289 units, significantly exceeding other models.
Next, we can see the BYD Song and Qin families (BEVs and PEVs counted together), the Tesla Model 3, and another four BYD models.
Top 10 for the month:
- Tesla Model Y – 77,289
- BYD Song Plus (7,609 BEVs + 43,347 PHEVs) – 50,956
- BYD Qin Plus (11,462 BEVs + 30,705 PHEVs) – 42,167
- Tesla Model 3 – 36,231
- BYD Dolphin – 31,968
- BYD Yuan Plus (aka Atto 3) – 30,192
- BYD Seagull – 28,001
- BYD Han (11,794 BEVs + 11,149 PHEVs) – 22,943
- GAC Aion S – 22,437
- Wuling Bingo – 19,782
* BEV and PHEV versions of the same models were counted together in the source.
After the first seven months of the year, the Tesla Model Y expanded its advantage over other models, although the Tesla Model 3 must now watch its back because the BYD Song family (mostly PHEV) is pretty close.
Brand rank
In terms of the most popular plug-in brands, BYD noted over 250,000 new registrations (new record).
Tesla set its own record for the first month of a quarter (over 119,000 units), but it seems that BYD sold slightly more BEVs in July (probably over 125,000 registrations). That’s an interesting thing, although Tesla’s results happen to be inconsistent from month to month due to logistics – its average BEV sales are still noticeably higher than BYD’s BEV sales.
Another finding is that SAIC-GM-Wuling, thanks to its all-electric micro cars, was able to beat Volkswagen for third place.
Top 10 for the month:
- BYD – 250,014
- Tesla – 119,191
- SAIC-GM-Wuling – 43,653
- Volkswagen – 43,386
- GAC Aion – 42,652
- BMW – 35,786
- Li Auto – 34,134
- Mercedes-Benz – 30,133
- Changan – 29,268
- Kia – 27,356
After the first seven months, BYD (1,442,768) and Tesla (1,008,208) are in their own league, already counting sales in millions of units. Tesla is the #1 BEV manufacturer, although BYD is #1 in terms of PHEVs and plug-ins overall.
Three other brands recently exceeded 250,000 new registrations – BMW, GAC Aion, and Volkswagen.
Top Brands And Automotive Groups
Additional data related to the automotive group reveals the largest players when it comes to plug-in electric cars and specifically all-electric cars.
Top automotive groups by share in the plug-in segment for the January-July period:
- BYD – 21.8% (1,510,647)
including Denza brand - Tesla – 14.5% (1,008,208)
- Volkswagen Group – 7.4% share (510,457)
- Geely–Volvo – 6.1% (426,480)
- SAIC: 5.6% (389,511)
including SAIC-GM-Wuling joint venture (between SAIC, GM and Liuzhou Wuling Motors) - Stellantis – 4.7%
- BMW Group – 4.2%
- Hyundai Motor Group – 4.2%
For us, the most interesting thing is the all-electric segment and the difference between Tesla and BYD, which is around 250,000 units (25 percent of Tesla’s result) over a period of seven months.
Top automotive groups by share in the all-electric segment for the January-July period:
- Tesla – 20.9% (1,008,208)
- BYD – 15.6% (754,322)
including Denza brand - Volkswagen Group – 7.8% share (376,652)
- SAIC: 7.7% (373,301)
including SAIC-GM-Wuling joint venture (between SAIC, GM and Liuzhou Wuling Motors) - Geely–Volvo – 6.7% (278,028)
- GAC – 5.5%