Plug-in car registrations across the world witnessed an astounding 25% year-on-year increase in April 2024, according to EV-Volumes. This remarkable sales growth indicates that the industry remains progressive despite major challenges in electrification.
Plug-in car sales – April 2024 and YTD
According to the latest registration data, the passenger plug-in electric car market sold a total of 1,221,181 new units worldwide in April 2024.
This remarkable sales result enabled the segment to account for approximately 18% of the total market, a notable increase from just 16% in the same period last year.
Presented below is the plug-in car registrations breakdown for April 2024:
| Vehicle Type | Units Sold (Est.) | YoY Change | Market Share |
| BEVs (Battery Electric Vehicles) | 794,000 | +14% | 12% |
| PHEVs (Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles) | 427,000 | +51% | 6% |
| Total | 1,221,181 | +25% | 18%[MA1] |
Plug-in hybrids continue to surpass the growth of battery-electric vehicles primarily due to the Chinese market.
Year to date, passenger plug-in electric cars registered over 4.5 million units:
| Type | Registrations (Est.) | YOY Change | Market Share |
| BEV | 2.9 million | – | 11% |
| PHEV | 1.6 million | – | 6% |
| Total | 4,511,543 | +29% | 17% |
In hindsight, passenger plug-in electric car registrations almost reached 13.7 million units globally in 2023. They accounted for 16% of the total vehicle volume, a notable increase from just 14% in 2022.
Tesla Model Y leads the ranking
As expected, Tesla’s popular Model Y electric crossover dominated the top 10 best-selling plug-in electric cars in April 2024. However, Chinese rival BYD swamped the ranking with 6 model entries. Refer to the table below:
| Rank | Model | Total Sales | BEV Sales | PHEV Sales |
| 1 | Tesla Model Y | 68,586 | 68,586 | – |
| 2 | BYD Song | 61,324 | 10,869 | 50,455 |
| 3 | BYD Qin Plus | 46,876 | 15,494 | 31,382 |
| 4 | BYD Seagull (Dolphin Mini) | 36,536 | 36,536 | – |
| 5 | BYD Destroyer 05 | 33,150 | – | 33,150 |
| 6 | BYD Yuan Plus (Atto 3) | 29,654 | 29,654 | – |
| 7 | Tesla Model 3 | 24,858 | 24,858 | – |
| 8 | BYD Han | 22,164 | 9,514 | 12,650 |
| 9 | Volkswagen ID.4 | 15,299 | 15,299 | – |
| 10 | Aito M9 | 15,139 | 2,030 | 13,109 |
This year to date, the Tesla Model Y remained at the top spot. Meanwhile, BYD EVs claimed seven spots:
| Rank | Model | Total Sales (Jan-April 2024) |
| 1 | Tesla Model Y | 331,443 |
| 2 | BYD Song | 203,654 |
| 3 | BYD Qin Plus | 138,627 |
| 4 | Tesla Model 3 | 131,105 |
| 5 | BYD Seagull | 109,870 |
| 6 | BYD Yuan | 98,628 |
| 7 | Aito M7 | 78,858 |
| 8 | BYD Dolphin | 67,842 |
| 9 | BYD Destroyer 05 | 66,539 |
| 10 | BYD Han | 59,256 |
Top-selling brands and groups
Chinese NEV giant BYD beat Tesla by a wide margin in the top-selling brand rankings in April 2024. However, this result is not surprising, considering that Tesla only sells limited models of electric vehicles. In contrast, BYD offers a wide range of BEV and PHEV lineup.
Here are the top 10 brands in April 2024 and YTD:
| Rank | Brand | April 2024 | Rank | Brand | YTD |
| 1 | BYD | 309,062 | 1 | BYD | 918,799 |
| 2 | Tesla | 98,947 | 2 | Tesla | 485,661 |
| 3 | BMW | 43,950 | 3 | BMW | 166,676 |
| 4 | SAIC-GM-Wuling | 35,987 | 4 | SAIC-GM-Wuling | 145,442 |
| 5 | Volkswagen | 34,662 | 5 | Mercedes-Benz | 123,987 |
| 6 | Volvo | 32,928 | 6 | Volkswagen | 119,197 |
| 7 | Mercedes-Benz | 30,894 | 7 | Li Auto | 117,398 |
| 8 | Li Auto | 28,471 | 8 | Geely | 116,456 |
| 9 | Geely | 27,909 | 9 | Volvo | 112,515 |
| 10 | Aion | 26,470 | 10 | Aito | 110,412 |
As for the leading automotive groups, BYD remained at the top spot with a 20.8% market share in April 2024.
| Rank | Automotive Group | Market Share (%) | Total Sales |
| 1 | BYD Group | 20.8 | 936,446 |
| 2 | Tesla | 10.8 | 485,661 |
| 3 | Geely-Volvo | 7.8 | 351,742 |
| 4 | Volkswagen Group | 6.3 | 285,238 |
| 5 | SAIC (including SAIC-GM-Wuling) | 5.6 | 252,469 |
| 6 | Stellantis | 4.0 | – |
| 7 | BMW Group | 3.9 | – |
| 8 | Changan | 3.8 | – |
| 9 | Hyundai Motor Group | 3.6 | – |
However, Tesla snatched the crown from BYD in the all-electric car segment in the January to April 2024 period:
| Automotive Group | Market Share | Total Sales |
| Tesla | 16.7% | 485,661 |
| BYD Group | 16.2% | 469,450 |
| Geely–Volvo | 7.2% | 208,242 |
| SAIC | 7.1% | 205,598 |
| Volkswagen Group | 6.8% | 196,706 |
| BMW Group | 4.1% | – |
It would be interesting to see how BYD would fare to beat Tesla in the all-electric vehicle segment in the coming months. A wide range of new electric vehicle models are also set to disrupt the market from both legacy and startup automakers.
