The global electric car market got off to a strong start in 2021, ending the year with record sales figures. December was one of the three months of record global sales of electric cars in the last four months of 2021, with monthly sales of more than 900000. For the whole of 2021, more than 6.495 million electric vehicles were sold worldwide, a year-on-year increase of 108 per cent, the highest annual growth rate since 2012.
2021 Global Top 20 Electric vehicle: Tesla Model 3 won the championship for the fourth time
Tesla Model 3 remains at the top of the global electric car sales list in 2021, topping the list for four consecutive years, selling more than 500000 vehicles. This means that the Model 3 has caught up with the former top-selling Nissan leaf (and won four times), but this is likely to be the last time the car has won the championship. On the one hand, Tesla's market share has been swallowed up by other competitors in recent years, falling from 14% in 2019 to 12% in 2020 to 8% in 2021. On the other hand, in addition to the aggressive Wuling Hongguang MINIEV, which currently ranks third, Model Y, which currently ranks third, has often overtaken it in recent months, while Model Y still has a lot of room for growth and has great potential for growth in markets such as Europe, Australia and the United States. by contrast, the Model 3 may have reached its peak, just as the BMW 3-Series reached its sales peak (555000 vehicles) in 2007. Toyota Camry's sales record is not much higher than that. There is likely to be a new best-selling model around the world in 2022, which is Tesla Model Y.
Although the ranking of the runner-up Wuling Hongguang MINIEV remained unchanged from the previous year, sales made rapid progress in 2021, with the gap between Wuling Hongguang and Tesla's Model 3 narrowing from about 240000 in 2020 to less than 80, 000 now. Outside the top three, Volkswagen ID.4 beat BYD Plus PHEV in fourth place, but if you add the BEV version of BYD Qin, the car will eventually lead Volkswagen ID.4 with 168000 registrations.
The same applies to ideal ONE in 6th place, BYD Han EV (No. 7) and BYD Song PHEV (No. 8). If the two BYD models add up the sales of all the powertrain vehicles, they will be ahead of the ideal ONE. However, the ideal ONE remains the top seller in full-size electric vehicles, with more than 90, 000 sold last year and 124000 since its launch in January 2020. Given that ideal is currently selling only one electric car, the start-up's upward momentum is something to be reckoned with.
In the second half of the list, Renault Zoe and Nissan leaf are worth mentioning, rising to 11th and 15th respectively, but they are in a bit of a decline compared with 2020 (Renault Zoe 3, Nissan leaf 7), highlighting the competition for electric models faced by traditional car companies under the offensive of electric car start-ups.
In the field of plug-in hybrid (PHEV), the best-selling model in 2021 is the BYD Qin Plus PHEV, which beat the 2020 champion Volkswagen Passat PHEV. In addition to the top 20, two models worth mentioning are the BYD yuan electric crossover and the Ford Mustang Mach-E, which have a sales gap of less than 1000 between the 20th car Roewe Clever EV and the 20th.
2021 Global Top 20 Electric vehicle Brand: BYD approaches Tesla
In terms of electric car brands, Tesla won easily again in 2021, winning the title of the world's best-selling electric car brand for the fourth year in a row. However, as its market share declines (17% in 2019, 16% in 2020, 14% in 2021), the top spot in 2022 may be taken away by other brands, most likely BYD in second place. If the brand continues to grow at the same rate as in 2021 (electric car deliveries have tripled) in 2022, it will have an interesting competition with Tesla. Although BYD is not growing as fast in China's domestic market as it was in 2020, the brand is said to be making big bets on overseas markets in 2022, which could be a way for BYD to accelerate its growth.
SAIC GM Wuling brand won third place, while Volkswagen brand fell to fourth place from second place in 2020. BMW-Mercedes-Benz remained the same as in 2020, while SAIC rose from 10th to 7th.
In the second half of the list, it is worth mentioning that Great Wall climbed four places to 12th, GAC also jumped to 14th, Chery returned to 18th, and Xiaopeng rose 1 place to 19th. It is the world's best-selling start-up brand of electric vehicles in China.
In addition to the top 20 is the Dongfeng brand, which currently has a sales gap of 4000 vehicles with Changan No. 20, and should try to return to the Top 20 list in 2022.
From the automotive group's point of view, Tesla is still the top seller of electric cars, accounting for 14% of the global electric vehicle market, down 1 percentage point from the third quarter of 2021 and 2 percentage points from 2020.
Volkswagen still ranks second, with its market share unchanged from the third quarter of last year and down 1 percentage point from 2020. SAIC continued its bronze medal in 2020, but benefited from Wuling Hongguang MINIEV, a Shanghai carmaker whose market share increased by 2 percentage points compared with 2020.
Will Volkswagen or SAIC beat Tesla in 2022? Foreign media believe that SAIC does not have enough ammunition to do this, and Volkswagen's slow production growth should also be an obstacle for it to overtake Tesla in 2022. By the end of next year, however, Volkswagen may be slightly closer to Tesla. But BYD's situation is different. BYD ranked fourth with a 9 per cent market share last year. If BYD maintains the same growth rate in 2022 as in 2021, it will become a dark horse and a stumbling block to Tesla's showdown with Volkswagen. No matter what happens in 2022, the biggest winners in 2021 will be BYD and SAIC.
Stellantis ranked fifth in electric vehicles at full speed last year, but that position is shaky as Geely-Volvo is approaching and it will be a strong contender for the fifth-largest electric vehicle group in 2022.
