Following a good performance in the first quarter, global electric vehicle sales continued to soar in April, rising 249 per cent year-on-year to more than 392000 vehicles (of which pure electric vehicle sales surged 23.5 per cent to 251000), the fourth highest month on record. In the first four months of this year, cumulative global electric vehicle sales exceeded 1.5 million, accounting for 5.7 per cent of the global car market (of which pure electric vehicles accounted for 3.7 per cent), surpassing 4 per cent for the whole of last year. The good performance has led EV Sales to predict that global electric vehicle sales will exceed 5 million this year and achieve double-digit market share by the end of the year or next year.
The monthly sales of the global Top 20 electric model: Model Y surpassed that of the Model 3 for the first time, and Volkswagen ID.4 and ID.3 improved Extreme Speed.
In terms of April sales alone, Tesla Model 3's growth was sluggish that month after a delivery frenzy at the end of the first quarter, selling only 14980 cars, thus losing its top-selling title again to Wuling Hongguang MINIEV, which delivered 29251 that month, almost twice as many as Tesla's Model 3.
While the growth of Model 3 is weak, Tesla's other model, the Model Y, is secretly making efforts. The, Model Y sold 16232 vehicles worldwide in April, surpassing the Model 3 for the first time, which is expected to become the norm in the near future.
Among the TOP 5 models sold in April, there were two new faces. Volkswagen ID.4 and Volkswagen ID.3, ranked fourth on the monthly sales list with sales of 10318 vehicles. This is the first time that the car's monthly sales have exceeded 10, 000. It is also the first time that it has surpassed its sibling ID.3;, which sold 5941 vehicles in April. It is the first time this year that Volkswagen ID.4 and Volkswagen ID.3, have made the list and ranked fifth that month. Because of the strong performance in April, the cumulative sales of the two models climbed to 13th and 14th respectively in the first four months.
It is also worth mentioning that the ideal ONE ranked seventh in April with sales of 5539 vehicles, making it the best-selling plug-in hybrid of the month, surpassing Volvo XC60 PHEV (5005) and Volvo XC40 PHEV (4589). Thanks to April's performance, ideal ONE's cumulative sales in the first four months jumped to 12th place, beating BMW's 530e Leader. Compared with the 10th Audi e-tron, the ideal ONE is only 481 cars behind.
In terms of cumulative sales in the first four months, there has been little change in the top 11 of the best-selling Top 20 models. In terms of sales, outside the top five, the gap between other models is relatively small, with a gap of less than 4000 between the sixth Nissan leaf and the 20th Chevrolet Bolt.
The most noteworthy outside the top 20 is the Toyota Prius PHEV, which sold 4715 vehicles in April, the best monthly sales record in three years, making it 22nd in cumulative sales in the first four months, just 1500 behind the 20th Chevrolet Bolt. In addition, another Toyota model, the RAV4 PHEV, had its best monthly sales ever with 3996 vehicles in April.
Speaking of records, BYD Qin Plus PHEV sold 3603 vehicles in April, the third consecutive month of record sales, and the car will continue to increase production in the future, while the Negro V model owned by Hezhong New Energy (Hozon) sold 3846 vehicles in April, a record for two months in a row.
Global Top 20 electric car brand: Tesla won the championship for three consecutive months, Volkswagen beat BMW into the top three
In April, the Tesla brand sold a total of 31268 electric cars worldwide, winning the monthly sales title for the third month in a row. However, the top three sales in April were relatively close, with a gap of only 1874 vehicles between Tesla and the third Volkswagen.
Speaking of Volkswagen, with the strong performance of its ID.3 and ID.4 models, the brand beat its German rival BMW into the top three in cumulative sales in the first four months. BMW's position in fourth place also seems shaky, because BYD, which is currently ranked fifth, is in strong sales and is likely to overtake BMW in May, when BMW will only compete with Mercedes-Benz for fifth place. In April, Mercedes-Benz's market share grew 3% from a year earlier, while BMW's market share fell to 6% from 7% a year earlier.
Other brands that have risen in the rankings include Peugeot, which currently climbs to 10th place; Kia also climbed one place to 12th. In the bottom half of the list, GAC, which currently ranks 18th, sold 8393 electric cars in April, the best monthly sales record in 16 months, thanks to its new Aion Y model.
In addition to the top 20 is Skoda, which sold 6062 vehicles in April. In addition, Xiaopeng, currently ranked 21st (18436 vehicles sold in the previous April) and 22nd ideal (18118 vehicles sold in the previous April) are expected to return to the list soon.
In terms of market share, Tesla still takes the lead, occupying a total market share of 14% (down 2 percentage points) in the global electric car market. SAIC (SAIC + SAIC GM Wuling) is not far behind with a market share of 13%. Volkswagen is trying to expand its share of the electric car market, which now stands at 13%, up one percentage point. As things stand, the three automakers will have a fierce competition in the global electric car market this year.
