California: Plug-Ins Capture Over 8% Of The Market In 2020

Three all-electric car models are on the top of their categories in California.

By: Mark Kane

Feb 6, 2021 at 9:01am ET

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In 2020, the overall light-vehicle sales in California amounted to 1,639,166 units, which is 21.7% less than in 2019. The decline is noticeably deeper than in the U.S. (by 14.4% to 14,645,049).

According to the California New Car Dealers Association (CNCDA), plug-in car sales also decreased, but not as much, which means higher market share.

In total, some 132,772 plug-ins were sold in California in 2020 (down 16.5% year-over-year). That's about 8.1% share.

If we check the details, it turns out also that the plug-in hybrids are shrinking quickly. More than a 40% drop is huge, especially since there are more models available and often those are models with better specs.

Plug-in electric car sales in California - Q1-Q4 2020

BEVs: 101,628 (market share of 6.2%), down 4.8%
PHEVs: 31,144 (market share of 1.9%), down 40.5%
Total plug-ins: 132,772 (market share of 8.1%), down 16.5%
HEVs: 113,103 (market share of 6.9%), down 3.5%
Total xEVs: 245,875 (market share of 15.0%), down 11%

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

Tesla Model 3 (38,580, down 35.2%): #1 in Near Luxury (41.5% share)
Tesla Model Y (20,124, new): #1 in Luxury Compact SUV (22.8% share)
Chevrolet Bolt EV (8,230, no change): #1 in Subcompact (22.8% share)
Tesla Model X (7,452, up 3.1%): #4 in Luxury Mid Size SUV (8.8% share)
Tesla Model S (4,718, down 19.8%): #3 in Luxury and High End Sports Cars (10.6% share)

Tesla Model 3 - one of the best selling cars

Year-to-date, the Telsa Model 3 is among the top passenger cars, even including SUV/pickups.

Honda Civic - 59,335
Toyota RAV4 - 57,449
Toyota Camry - 56,301
Ford F-Series - 50,751
Chevrolet Silverado - 44,141
Toyota Corolla - 43,467
Honda Accord - 42,653
Toyota Tacoma - 39,572
Ram Pickup - 38,636
Tesla Model 3 - 38,580
Honda CR-V - 33,948

Tesla brand sales

According to the data, in Q4, Tesla sales amounted to 21,290 (up 40.5%), which is 4.8% of the market (compared to 15,155 and 3.0% a year ago).

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The 2020 result is 71,390 (down 4.6%). The market share is 4.4% (compared to 74,821 and 3.6% a year ago).

CNCDA shows also that Tesla has a 1.8% share in the total U.S. market, which suggests more than 263,600. However, this value might be burdened with great uncertainty. We guess the real value is much lower.