California: Plug-In Electric Car Sales Down 17% In H1 2020

Tesla accounted for the majority of plug-in car sales in the state, but the result is lower by almost one fifth than in 2019.

By: Mark Kane

Aug 12, 2020 at 8:46am ET

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The automotive market was significantly affected by the COVID-19 related lockdown and sales slowdown in the first half of the year.

In California, sales went down by 26.9% year-over-year to 786,219 (including 294,783 passenger cars - down 35.6%, and 491,436 light trucks - down 20.5%), according to the California New Car Dealers Association (CNCDA).

The plug-in car market was falling slower than the overall market, but the decrease of 17.1% to 61,325 is not small either (in big part because of PHEVs):

BEVs: 45,601 (market share of 5.8%), down 13.6% from 52,807
PHEVs: 15,724 (market share of 2.0%), down 25.8% from 21,193
Total: 61,325 (market share of 7.8%), down 17.1% from 74,000
HEVs: 44,028 (market share of 5.6%), down 9.9% from 48,861
Total xEVs: 105,353 (market share of 13.4%), down 14.3% from 122,861

Plug-in electric car sales in California - H1 2020

Four all-electric cars were at the forefront of their subcategories, and two of them were #1:

Tesla Model 3 (24,850, down 24.7%): #1 in Near Luxury (48.5% share)
Tesla Model X (3,933, up 6.6%): #4 in Luxury Mid Size SUV (9.8% share)
Chevrolet Bolt EV (3,575, down 20.2%): #1 in Subcompact (20.8% share)
Tesla Model S (2,398, down 29.3%): #4 in Luxury and High End Sports Cars (11.0% share)

Tesla Model 3 is the dominant player in its category, but it's pretty surprising to see that the Chevrolet Bolt EV is also the top choice among subcompacts.

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Tesla Model 3 - one of the best selling cars

The first half of 2020 shows that Tesla Model 3 is #3 among passenger cars and #4 including SUV/pickups.

Honda Civic - 29,974
Toyota RAV4 - 27,076
Toyota Camry - 25,950
Tesla Model 3 - 24,850
Toyota Corolla - 21,771
Honda Accord - 19,962

Tesla brand and Model Y sales

In California, Tesla sales amounted to 33,083 (18.6% less than in H1 2019), which is enough for a 4.2% market share.

In Q2 specifically, Tesla sales were hit hard - down by 49.3% year-over-year from 19,393 to 9,833 (3.5% market share).

If we compare Tesla's overall result with Model 3, Model X and Model S, we can calculate that the Model Y sales amounted to just 1,902 - not that much.

Source: California New Car Dealers Association - Auto Outlook: 2020 Q2