Who is selling the most battery electric vehicles in the world? If we think Tesla, then we have been misled by the huge noise surrounding the Californian carmaker. In the first two months of the year, the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance still was number one in total worldwide BEV registrations. This according to data JATO Dynamics shared with Dailykanban. The Alliance might soon lose the title, but it is not Tesla that is on an exponential trajectory. It is the Chinese.
“The Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance is still the biggest EV car maker,” says JATO analyst Juan Felipe Munoz-Vieira, “but Chinese rapid growth threatens this leading position. Our data shows that Chinese brands controlled 44% of total sales, and they are the fastest growing brands.”
Not far behind the leading Alliance is an OEM that is barely known in the rest of the world. Stodgy Beijing-based BAIC Group exploded onto the scene with its BEV sales up 231% in the first two months of the year, compared to the same period of the prior year. Other Chinese makers, such as JAC or Chery, pulled off a steep production ramp that should fill Elon Musk with envy.
“China is investing a lot, and is changing the EV market by launching more affordable models. EVs are becoming popular thanks to China,” says Munoz-Viera. “Growth stalled at Tesla as the arrival of the Model 3 was offset by lower sales of Model S, X in USA.”
The data reflect true registrations, as opposed to “sales,” or “deliveries” reported by OEMs.
As far as the first quarter of 2018 is concerned, JATO is still waiting for the registration data out of the U.S. and Canada. We will supply the data when available.
Methodology: JATO is an independent, trusted, and highly reputable supplier of data to the auto industry. As much as possible, JATO counts true registrations of new cars with the authorities. In some markets, these data are either not made available, or made available too late. There, JATO tracks true sales using proprietary methods.
The data reflect government-supplied registration data for Japan, Germany, Italy, France, Brazil, Spain, UK, Belgium, Argentina, Poland, Netherlands, Sweden, Austria, Israel, Switzerland, Denmark, Ireland, Norway, New Zealand, Finland, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, Slovenia, Greece, Luxembourg, Croatia, Cyprus. In China, USA, India, Korea, Canada, Mexico, Russia, Australia, Indonesia, Thailand, Turkey, South Africa, Malaysia, Chile, Taiwan, Czech Rep, Portugal, Vietnam, Singapore, Puerto Rico, Estonia, Serbia, Lithuania, and Latvia, true sales are measured using proprietary JATO methods. The information excludes the Middle East (except for Israel), Iran, Magreb, Pakistan, Central Asia, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Belarus, Moldova, Balkans (except for Serbia), Iceland, Malta, Eurasia, Africa (except for South Africa), Pacific islands, Central America and the Caribbean (except for Puerto Rico), Colombia, Venezuela, Peru, Ecuador, Uruguay, Paraguay and Bolivia.
