2021 EV sales figures: Tesla Model 3 leading, but only just

June 13, 2021June 13, 2021 Iain Curry 2482 Views electric car sales, ev sales 2021

The Tesla Model 3 is global best-selling electric car of 2021 so far, but the Chinese Wuling Hongguang Mini EV is hot on its heels.

The latest figures, collated by electric car sales blog EV Sales Blogspot, lists EV sales to the end of April this year. It shows that 141,696 Tesla Model 3s have sold around the world year-to-date, with the cheapie Hongguang electric micro-car snaring 125,925 registrations.

2020 Hongguang MINI EV — April 2021’s best-seller: Chinese market Hongguang MINI EV is built by SAIC as part of a joint venture with General Motors

In third place is the Tesla Model Y with 72,296; fourth is the Australia-bound BYD Han EV at 27,100 and fifth the Great Wall ORA Black Cat with 23,803. More familiar names round out the top ten: sixth is the Nissan Leaf, trailed by the GAC Aion S, Hyundai Kona EV, Volvo XC60 PHEV and Audi e-Tron.

Chinese challenge

The Hongguang Mini EV is built by Chinese state-owned SAIC Motor as part of a joint venture with General Motors. It costs just under $6000, making it around one-tenth the price of a Model 3 in China.

Its sales for the month of April almost doubled that of the Tesla Model 3: 29,251 versus 14,980. However if we combine Model 3 and Model Y sales (16,232) – as Tesla likes to do – its April sales reaches 31,212.

The data showed the market share of all plug-in vehicles (PHEVs and BEVs) around the world was 5.7 percent, with full electric car sales at 3.7 percent. This time last year the PHEV and BEV market share was 4 percent, showing impressive growth over the last 12 months. April 2021 showed 392,000 PHEV and BEV sales, with 251,000 of those full electric vehicles.

Volkswagen surges

Volkswagen looks likely to be a more significant sales player as the year progresses. Its new ID.4 crossover SUV was fourth best-seller for the month (10,318), and combined with ID.3 sales (5,941) the German brand now sits third on the global brands list for electric car sales.

In April, Tesla’s 31,268 sales were as good as matched by SAIC-GM-Wuling Automobile (SGMW) with 30,146, and Volkswagen at 29,394.

Volkswagen’s ID.4 has arrived and already making significant moves on the best-seller lists

For the year-to-date, Tesla’s dominating proceedings with sales of EVs. Its 216,079 sales eclipses SGMW’s 133,720, followed by Volkswagen (89,655), BMW (83,885) and BYD (78,690).

Europe’s top model figures for April 2021 were noticeable for Tesla’s absence: none of the American offerings made the top 20, although we can put this down to supply issues rather than a lack of market demand. The top five were the Volkswagen ID.4 (7565 registrations), Volkswagen ID.3 (5941), Ford Kuga PHEV (4300), Volvo XC40 PHEV (4118) and Renault Zoe (4083).

The Tesla Model 3 still leads the way for Europe’s year-to-date sales. It’s shifted almost twice the number of VW ID.3s in second place in that market, with the Volvo XC40 PHEV, Renault Zoe and Hyundai Kona EV rounding out the top five.

Iain Curry

A motoring writer and photographer for two decades, Iain started in print magazines in London as editor of Performance BMW and features writer for BMW Car, GT Porsche and 4Drive magazines. His love of motor sport and high performance petrol cars was rudely interrupted in 2011 when he was one of the first journalists to drive BMW's 1 Series ActiveE EV, and has been testing hybrids, PHEVs and EVs for Australian newspapers ever since. Based near Noosa in Queensland, his weekly newspaper articles cover new vehicle reviews and consumer advice, while his photography is regularly seen on the pages of glossy magazines.