Plug-in electric cars had record-breaking sales of nearly 1.3 million units globally in September 2023, EV-Volumes market analyst Jose Pontes shared through CleanTechnica.
Impressively, these remarkable sales results also indicate a 23% year-on-year increase. It raised the global market share of rechargeable cars to 17%, with all-electric vehicles claiming the 12% share. If we include the hybrids’ 12% contribution, the overall xEVs (BEVs, PHEVs, HEVs) share of the market reached 29% in September 2023.
Without further ado, below are the monthly and year-to-date estimated sales data (via InsideEVs).
Monthly (Sep 2023)
| Powertrain | Sales | Market Share |
| BEVs | about *890,000 | 12% |
| PHEVs | about *400,000 | 5% |
| Total | 1,291,077 (up 23%) | 17% |
YTD (Jan-Sep 2023)
| Powertrain | Sales | Market Share |
| BEVs | *over 6.5 million | – |
| PHEVs | *over 2.8 million | – |
| Total | 9,459,019 (up 39%) | over 16% |
In hindsight, passenger plug-in car registrations achieved a total of over 10 million units for the first time in 2022.
Top models for the month
| Ranking | Models | Sales |
| 1 | Tesla Model Y | 121,258 |
| 2 | BYD Song Plus | 63,800 (10,108 BEVs + 53,692 PHEVs) |
| 3 | BYD Qin Plus | 43,010 (11,844 BEVs + 31,166 PHEVs) |
| 4 | BYD Yuan Plus (aka Atto 3) | 35,378 |
| 5 | BYD Seagull | 35,012 |
| 6 | BYD Dolphin | 27,240 |
| 7 | GAC Aion Y | 27,004 |
| 8 | Tesla Model 3 | 26,058 |
| 9 | BYD Han | 22,936 (10,554 BEVs + 12,382 PHEVs) |
| 10 | GAC Aion S | 21,548 |
As expected, Tesla’s popular all-electric crossover Model Y dominated the rankings with sales of 121,258 units. Meanwhile, its sibling Tesla Model 3’s sales weakened in September due to the launch of the revamped Highland variant.
Top brands for the month
| Ranking | Brands | Sales |
| 1 | BYD | 273,728 |
| 2 | Tesla | 154,009 |
| 3 | GAC Aion | 51,034 |
| 4 | BMW | 48,908 |
| 5 | SAIC-GM-Wuling | 43,208 |
| 6 | Volkswagen | 40,465 |
| 7 | Mercedes-Benz | 37,323 |
| 8 | Changan | 36,675 |
| 9 | Li Auto | 36,060 |
| 10 | SAIC | 35,104 |
BYD continues to lead the global sales rankings for plug-in car vehicles with 273,728 units. Tesla followed with only 154,009 units. This year to date, BYD’s plug-in car sales reached a total of 1,977,968 units, while Tesla only had 1,323,868 units.
However, it must be noted that BYD’s significant lead is primarily due to its wide range of electric vehicle lineup, including BEVs and PHEVs. In contrast, Tesla only sells pure battery-powered models, which is currently limited to the S3XY portfolio.
The imminent arrival of the Cybertruck and Tesla Semi will undoubtedly boost the Musk-led company’s sales and deliveries in the coming quarters. Moreover, Tesla also has plans to develop a mass-market model that only costs $25,000.
All these are part of Tesla’s strategies to achieve its target of selling 20 million units by the end of the decade.
