Global EV Sales More than Double in H1
Global electric vehicle (EV) sales more than doubled in the first half of 2021 compared with a year ago. Yet, Hyundai Motor and Kia Corp. suffered a setback in their shares as the global market growth was driven by Chinese companies.
Market research firm SNE Research said on Aug. 23 that 17.87 million pure EVs were sold worldwide in the first half of 2021, up 172 percent compared to the 6.56 million units sold during the same period of 2020.
Tesla placed first in the sales rankings. It sold 3.96 million units, maintaining a wide gap with other carmakers. Its market share hit 22.2 percent, down from 27.7 percent in the same period of 2020. Model 3 and Model Y sales soared.
In terms of growth rate, Chinese brands stood out. SAIC-GM-Wuling (SGMW), which ranked 9th in the first half of 2020, sold 1.92 million units, up nearly 1,400 percent from a year before. It took second place among all EV brands. The company’s Hongguang Mini EV enjoyed immense popularity in China. Other Chinese brands also posted sharp growth, including BYD (ranked third with a 5.4 percent share), Great Wall Motors (ranked 5th with a 2.9 percent share), and NIO (9th with a 2.3 percent share).
Hyundai Motor sold 510,000 units, up 76 percent from 2020, but its market share shrank from 4.5 percent to 2.9 percent. Among the top 10 brands, Hyundai Motor and Renault were the only two automakers with double-digit sales growth. Volkswagen's sales of the ID.3 and ID.4 increased, pushing up the German automaker through the rankings.
PHEVs also sold 8.27 million units in the first half of 2021, up more than 160 percent from 2020. In 2021, first place was taken by BMW, whose market share fell from 17.0 percent to 12.9 percent. BYD, Toyota, Mercedes, Volkswagen and Audi saw their shares rise more than the average. On the other hand, Kia’s market share fell to 3.6 percent from 4.1 percent in the first half of 2020 as its sales climbed by 300,000 units in the first half of 2021.