World’s Top 5 EV Automotive Groups Ranked By Sales: Q1-Q4 2022

More than 10 million plug-in electric cars were sold in 2022, accounting for 14 percent of the total car sales globally. Today, we will take a look at the largest manufacturers (automotive groups) of rechargeable cars.

According to EV-Volumes data, shared by Jose Pontes, five OEMs are responsible for more than half of all plug-in car sales.

See December and 2022 full-year sales results here.

As usual, first we will check out the volume and share of the top OEMs in the overall plug-in market first, and then in the battery-electric segment.

In the plug-in category, which combines all-electric (BEV) and plug-in hybrid (PHEV) cars, the top five did not change during the fourth quarter.

BYD further strengthened as #1 with over 1.85 million units sold and an 18.4% share. The Chinese manufacturer more than tripled its volume in 2022, compared to 2021.

Tesla, which won in 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2021, this time was second, more than a half million units behind BYD. This decreased Tesla’s market share in the plug-in segment to 13.0 percent (from 14.4 percent a year ago).

Volkswagen Group also lost one position and was third in 2022 with over 831,000 units. That’s 8.2 percent of the total, compared to 11.7 percent a year ago.

Behind the podium are SAIC (7.2 percent), Geely-Volvo (6.0 percent), Stellantis (4.7 percent) and Hyundai Motor Group (4.6 percent).

Plug-in car registrations in Q1-Q4 2022 (vs previous year):

1. BYD: 1,857,549 and 18.4% share (vs 9.1%)
2. Tesla: 1,314,330 and 13.0% share (vs 16.0%)
3. Volkswagen Group: 831,844 and 8.2% share (vs 13.0%)
4. SAIC (incl. SAIC-GM-Wuling): 724,911 and 7.2% share (vs 10.5%)
5. Geely-Volvo: 606,114 and 6.0% share

Top 5 total: 5,334,748 (52.8% share)
others: 4,756,416 (47.2% share)
Total: 10,091,164

In terms of all-electric car registrations, the top five manufacturers are slightly different, because BEV-focused Tesla is far ahead of everyone else. In 2022, the company delivered more than 1.3 million electric cars.

That’s 18.2 percent of the total BEV sales globally, although Tesla’s share decreased by some 5 percentage points compared to 2021. That’s a sign that the company was expanding slower than the segment as a whole.

BYD significantly increased its BEV sales in 2022, reaching 913,052 units and a 12.6 percent share in the BEV segment. It’s doubtful that the Chinese company will be able to overtake Tesla this year, but the pursuit continues.

Then we can see SAIC (9.3%), but only thanks to the SAIC-GM-Wuling joint venture and its microcars.

The Volkswagen Group – fourth last year with a 7.9 percent share – is expected to return to the podium (it was third in 2021 with a 10 percent share).

The fifth-largest OEM in the BEV segment was Geely-Volvo (5.3 percent share), which replaced the Hyundai Motor Group. Time will tell which of those two OEMs (or maybe some other) will sell more electric cars in 2023.

All-electric car registrations in Q1-Q4 2022 (vs previous year):

1. Tesla: 1,314,330 and 18.2% share (vs 23%)
2. BYD: 913,052 and 12.6% share (vs 7%)
3. SAIC (incl. SAIC-GM-Wuling): 671,725 and 9.3% share (vs 13%)
4. Volkswagen Group: 571,067 and 7.9% share (vs 10%)
5. Geely-Volvo: 383,936 and 5.3% share

Top 5 total: 3,854,110 (53.3% share)
Others: about 3.38 million (46.7% share)
Total: about 7.23 million

See also our previous reports for automotive groups: