Global Plug-In Car Sales September 2021: Doubled To A New Record

Global passenger plug-in electric car sales doubled year-over-year in September to over 685,000 (up 98%), which is the new all-time monthly record (16% better than the previous one from June).

Not only that. The market share, according to Jose Pontes (based on EV-Volumes data), has reached a new all-time record of 10.2% – the first double digit result.

Plug-ins are conquering the world and already one in 10 newly registered passenger cars (including minicars) is rechargeable.

Three quarters of the plug-in volume were all-electric cars, which is quite a significant advantage over plug-in hybrids.

Plug-in sales results:

• BEVs: about 512,000 and 7.6% share
• PHEVs: about 174,000 and 2.6% share
• Total: 685,881 (up 98% year-over-year) and 10.2% share

See more of our sales reports for the month September 2021.

Sales are expected to further expand, reaching new all-time highs, in the final months of the year.

So far this year, passenger plug-in electric car sales stand at almost 4.3 million (more than in the entire 2020 – 3.1 million), while the market share increased to 7.0%. It’s expected that in 2021, plug-in car sales will exceed 6 million.

The model rank is full of records set by individual models, including the top two in September – Tesla Model 3 (70,798) and Tesla Model Y (68,469). The Model Y appears to be ready to soon significantly overtake the Model 3 on a monthly and quarterly basis.

The Wuling Hong Guang MINI EV was third best (35,169), followed by BYD Qin Plus (PHEV) (15,164 – new record) and Volkswagen ID.4 (13,138 – new record).

There were 12 Chinese plug-ins in the top 20 in Septmeber (including the XPeng P7 for the first time – at #19) and 6 noted new monthly records.

The top-selling models year-to-date:

1. Tesla Model 3 – 70,798 and 360,346 YTD
2. Wuling‘s Hong Guang MINI EV – 35,169 and 288,873 YTD
3. Tesla Model Y – 68,469 and 253,833 YTD
4. Volkswagen ID.4 – 13,138 and 73,632 YTD
5. BYD Qin Plus (PHEV) – 15,164 and 58,710 YTD
6. BYD Han EV – 7,804 and 58,262 YTD
7. Li Xiang One EREV – 7,094 and 55,270 YTD
8. Changan Benni EV – 7,983 and 53,220 YTD
9. Volkswagen ID.3 – 8,397 and 53,041 YTD
10. GAC Aion S – 7,679 and 48,875 YTD
    Total: 685,881 and 4,256,412 YTD

Top 10 year-to-date:

Tesla noted a new monthly record of over 143,000 units, strengthening its first place year-to-date. However, its Q3 average was at over 80,400/month – not as high as September would indicate.

BYD, with its outstanding record of over 70,000, is now the #2 year-to-date, ahead of SAIC-GM-Wuling. Volkswagen brand is the best of the rest, off the podium though.

The top brands year-to-date:

1. Tesla – 143,143 and 627,371 YTD
2. BYD – 70,236 and 329,408 YTD
3. SAIC-GM-Wuling – 39,666 and 306,872 YTD
4. Volkswagen – 33,109 and 247,450 YTD
5. BMW – 25,253 and 198,156 YTD
6. SAIC – 25,403 and 157,894 YTD
7. Mercedes-Benz – 18,782 and 157,578 YTD
8. Volvo – 15,231 and 132,059 YTD
9. Audi – 15,936 and 124,256 YTD
10. Kia – 17,703 and 105,363 YTD
    Total: 685,881 and 4,256,412 YTD

Top 10 year-to-date:

Among the manufacturers, Tesla is #1 with 14.7% share, followed by Volkswagen Group (12.3%) and SAIC (10.9%). More about the automotive group’s results in the next post.