Global Electric Vehicle Sales Ranking in 2023: BYD Leaves Others in the Dust, Aiways Rises In the just-passed 2023, the Tesla Model Y defeated the Toyota RAV4 to become the best-selling car globally; at the same time, BYD surpassed the traditional automotive giant Volkswagen in the Chinese market to become the new champion, highlighting the disruptive momentum of electric vehicles. In the last few months of 2023, global electric vehicle sales repeatedly set new records, with December being one of them. The global electric vehicle registration in that month exceeded 1.55 million, reaching a historic high; the market share of electric vehicles also surpassed 20% for the first time in history, reaching 22%.
In 2023, the global electric car registration reached a new milestone, surpassing 13 million vehicles for the first time, closer to 14 million, a 35% increase compared to 2022. The market share of electric cars also increased from 14% in 2022 to 16%, with battery electric vehicles accounting for 11% of the market share.
Global Top 20 Electric Vehicle Ranking for 2023: Tesla Model Y Continues to Lead in Sales In the final ranking of 2023, the Tesla Model Y once again took the top spot with over 1.2 million registrations, a 57% increase from 2022’s 771,000. It’s worth noting that the Model Y is not only the best in the electric vehicle field, but also the best-selling car in the global light vehicle market, surpassing traditional strong competitors such as Toyota Corolla and RAV4. It is expected that this year, the Model Y will once again be a strong competitor for the best-selling car in the world. Second and third place remained the same as 2022, with the BYD Song winning the silver medal with 636,000 units, beating the Tesla Model 3. The Model 3 ended the year with 529,000 registrations, its best performance ever, partly due to the launch of the latest version last year. However, the boost from the new version is still limited, and the Model 3’s market share has been declining year by year, from 14% in 2019 to 3.9% in 2023. Since 2021, its sales have been basically stagnant, with a record-breaking sales increase of only 6% in 2023 compared to 2021, while global electric vehicle market sales have surged from 6.6 million units to 13.7 million units, an increase of over 100% during the same period.
In 2022, the lead is no longer the Wuling Hongguang MINI EV, but a group of BYD models. The BYD Qin Plus, Yuan Plus, and other models are gaining momentum, with BYD taking 5 out of the top 7 spots. Apart from BYD models, GAC’s two models also performed well in 2023, with sales almost doubling. However, the real standout is the electric car company, Li Xiang, with three full-size models making it into the top 20. This success is starting to shake BYD’s leading position in the full-size car market. Despite the Han and Tang being the best-selling full-size electric cars last year, their sales have decreased by 17% and 7% respectively. Thus, maintaining the top spot in the full-size category will be much more difficult for BYD in 2024. Additionally, in the 2023 Top 20 electric car rankings, only Volkswagen’s ID.4 and ID.3 remain from traditional OEMs, while models from Hyundai, Kia, and Ford did not make the list, indicating that traditional automotive giants still have work to do in catching up with the transition to electric cars. For the ID.3, 2023 is a breakthrough year as sales of the vehicle surpassed 100,000 units for the first time, reaching 139,000 units with a 79% year-on-year increase, thanks in part to its performance in the Chinese market. 2023 Global Top 20 Electric Car Brand Ranking: BYD Leaves Tesla in the Dust Following its victory over Tesla in 2022, BYD further expanded its lead in 2023 with a 56% annual sales growth rate, becoming the fastest-growing company in the Top 20 brand ranking and extending its lead over Tesla to 1 million units. However, BYD’s growth rate in 2024 may not be as fast as in 2023, as the brand is already the best-selling car brand in the domestic market and demand is close to its limit, meaning its growth potential may be limited. However, overseas sales will be the focus of the brand’s growth, as BYD is reportedly making a big bet on the overseas market this year, actively expanding its overseas factories in Brazil, Europe, and Mexico, among other planned locations. Now let’s talk about Tesla in recent years. With an increasing number of new electric car models emerging, the brand’s market share has been steadily eroded, dropping from 17% in 2019 to 13% in 2023, and may stabilize at around 10% in the future. If Tesla wants to regain the top spot, it needs to diversify its product lineup and launch a more affordable compact car platform.
Last year, due to mediocre performance in the first half of the year, SAIC-GM Wuling lost its position on the podium, ultimately falling to sixth place. Taking its place was BMW, which returned to the podium after a 7-year absence, winning the bronze medal. However, considering the rapidly growing group of Chinese brands behind it, BMW may have a hard time holding onto a top three position in 2024. Of course, BMW’s goal is not to become the number one in the electric car market, but to maintain its leading position in the high-end market. Following BMW is the rapidly rising Chinese brand GAC Aion, which saw its sales increase by 78% to 484,000 units in 2023. However, this year, Aion may have a hard time maintaining this growth rate, as it has not yet found a way to replicate the success of the Aion Y and Aion S in other models. This means it may also become a target for NIO. NIO can be said to be one of the fastest growing brands in the Top 20 list, with a staggering 11-place climb from 19th in 2022 to 7th in the current year, a remarkable performance. Currently, all three models under NIO’s Ideal brand have matured and have made it onto the global Top 20 electric car list. With the launch of the first mid-size car L6 sometime this year, Ideal is expected to achieve sales of around 600,000 to 700,000 units this year, potentially landing it in the top three. Speaking of startups, another brand with significant progress is NIO, which has risen 5 places in the rankings compared to last year, successfully making it onto the Top 20 list and ranking 16th. However, without new breakthroughs this year, NIO will have a hard time maintaining this position. Benefiting from Toyota’s lackluster performance, Ford and Jeep’s rankings have also risen by one place each. In fact, among all traditional brands on the list, Jeep is the fastest growing, with sales increasing by 53% in 2023 to nearly 160,000 units, just a step away from Ford. Jeep’s performance also fully demonstrates the important role of plug-in hybrid cars in the transition to electric vehicles.
From the perspective of market share, Chinese car brands led by BYD continue to rise. BYD’s share increased by 2.7 percentage points compared to 2022, GAC Aion’s share increased by 0.8 percentage points, and the share of Ideal began to equal that of Mercedes-Benz. The shares of Changan and Geely also increased. In contrast, the shares of Volkswagen, Mercedes-Benz, and SAIC-GM Wuling all decreased. In 2024, will the share of BYD and other Chinese brands take another step up? Can Tesla hold steady? Will the shares of traditional giants like Volkswagen and Mercedes continue to decline? Let’s wait and see!