World’s Top 5 EV Automotive Groups Ranked By Sales: Q1-Q3 2021

Since the global passenger plug-in electric car sales numbers for the month of Septemer 2021 are now in, let's now take a look at the results from the perspective of the top automotive groups.

According to Jose Pontes (based on EV-Volumes data), over 4,256,000 plugs-in were sold during the first three quarters of the year.

First, we will check the top OEMs in the overall plug-in market, and then in the battery-electric segment.

Plug-ins (BEV+PHEVs)

In the plug-in category, Tesla remains the top manufacturer, which is quite an achievement, considering the focus solely on BEVs and the push from other OEMs.

The company lost a few points of market share, as the overall market expands faster than Tesla, but still has a noticeable advantage over the second best Volkswagen Group (which also lost market share).

Third is SAIC (including SAIC-GM-Wuling joint venture), followed by BYD and Stellantis. No more Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance in the top 5 (3rd a year ago), Hyundai Motor Group (4th a year ago) and BMW Group (5th a year ago).

Plug-in car sales in Q1-Q3 2021 (vs previous year):

1. Tesla: 627,371 and 14.7% share (vs 18%)
2. Volkswagen Group: 522,701 and 12.3% share (vs 13%)
3. SAIC (incl. SAIC-GM-Wuling): 464,766 and 10.9% share
4. BYD: 329,408 and 7.7% share
5. Stellantis: 255,291 and 6.0% share

Top 5 total: 2,199,537 (51.7% share)
others: 2,056,877 (48.3% share)
Total: 4,256,414

Wuling Hong Guang MINI EV Macaron

Volkswagen MEB-based EVs

Battery-electric only (BEV)

In terms of all-electric car sales, Tesla is far ahead of others automotive groups, although its market share has shrunk to 21.5%.

SAIC is #2 thanks to huge EV sales of electric mini cars by SAIC-GM-Wuling joint venture. The Volkswagen Group is at less than half of Tesla's volume, but it expands quicker and maintains 10% market share.

Then there are BYD and Hyundai Motor Group - both OEMs were accelerating in the second half of the year. Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance (3rd a year ago) is no longer in the top 5.

All-electric car sales in Q1-Q3 2021 (vs previous year):

1. Tesla: 627,371 and 21.5% share (vs 26%)
2. SAIC (incl. SAIC-GM-Wuling): 411,164 and 14.1% share (vs 8%)
3. Volkswagen Group: 292,769 and 10.1% share (vs 10%)
4. BYD: 185,796 and 6.4% share
5. Hyundai Motor Group: 139,889 and 4.8% share (vs 7%)

Top 5 total: 1,656,989 (56.9% share)
others: 1,254,436 (43.1% share)
Total: 2,911,425

See also

Elon Musk: It Will Take 30-40 Years To Replace All Cars With BEVs

See Tesla BEV Sales Comparison With Other OEMs (2017-2020)

See also our previous reports for automotive groups:

• 2018
• 2019 Q1
• 2019 Q1-Q2
• 2019 Q1-Q4
• 2020 Q1
• 2020 Q1-Q2
• 2020 Q1-Q3
• 2020 Q1-Q4
• 2021 Q1
• 2021 Q1-Q2

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