Following up on our stories about the best selling plugin vehicles in the world and the automotive brands that sell the most plugin electric vehicles in the world, we’re now closing out the 2022 World EV Sales Report series with a look at the automotive groups or alliances that sell the most plugin electric vehicles and that sell the most pure 100% electric vehicles.
Auto Groups/Alliances That Sell The Most Plugin Vehicles — 2022
If we gather plugin vehicle sales by automotive group, Tesla (13% share of the plugin vehicle market) lost the 2022 title to BYD (18.4% share). BYD gained 1.1 percentage point compared to Q3 2022, and a massive 9 points compared to a year ago, while Tesla dropped 0.3% compared to Q3 and 1% compared to 2021.
Volkswagen Group remained in 3rd, winning 0.2% market share compared to Q3 and losing 4 percentage points compared to 2021.
SAIC (7.2%, down from 7.4% in November) stayed in 4th, but the Shanghai automaker continued to lose share at a concerning rate, losing 0.4% compared to Q3 and some 4% YoY.
How will the race for bronze unfold in 2023? Volkswagen Group should win it by some distance. I don’t think SAIC has enough firepower to get close to the German conglomerate that, in its turn, is hoping to recover some ground on the top two. The Shanghai Group would be happy if it could simply stop the market share bleed.
In the C-League, Geely–Volvo (6%, up from 5.9%) continued to rise, having gained 0.3% in the last quarter of the year, and some 2% share YoY. It now looks to catch up on SAIC sometime during this year.
#6 Stellantis (4.7%) and #7 Hyundai–Kia (4.6%) are competing for the 6th position, and it should remain that way during 2023.
Regardless of what will happen in 2023, the big gainers in 2022 were BYD and Geely–Volvo.
Auto Groups/Alliances That Sell The Most Pure, 100% Battery-Electric Vehicles — 2022
Looking only at BEVs, Tesla again got the title, with 18.2% share of the global BEV market. That is a drop from the 21% share of 2021, 0.3 less than it had in Q3 2022, and far from the 23% it had at the end of 2020. Still, 18.2% share is a notable feat considering the current diversification process.
The silver medal this time went to BYD (12.6%), which had been 4th in 2021, gaining 5% share in the process! Compared to Q3 2022, the Chinese automaker won 0.7% share.
Now, the question many had been waiting for: Will BYD beat Tesla in 2023 in BEVs?
Hmmm … I think it is too soon to guess. It’s true, though, that if current trends continue throughout 2024, that might happen around the second or third quarter of that year. Tesla should continue losing share during 2023, and BYD will continue gaining share, one of the reasons being the fact that BYD’s lineup will become more BEV-heavy this year (the Seagull and Sea Lion will play a significant role there). Another reason is that exports are basically focused on BEVs, with PHEVs only being used in select markets.
So, while BYD share in the plugin market might stagnate in 2023, because it will have a higher mix of BEVs, its share in the BEV-only market will continue to grow.
SAIC, which ended the year with 9.3% share, down from 9.6% in November, was the bronze medalist, having lost half a percentage point compared to Q3 2022 and some 4 points compared to the 2021 result.
Volkswagen Group (7.9%, up 0.4%) was off the podium this time, ending the year in 4th after having lost 2 percentage points compared with 2021.
In 5th, we have a rising Geely–Volvo (5.3%, up from 5.1% in November). It gained 0.5% share compared to Q3 2022, and a full one percentage point compared to 2021.
Looking at these results in comparison to the BEV+PHEV tables and charts, it is the same top 5 players. The differences are the position changes between BYD and Tesla, and between SAIC and Volkswagen Group.