New passenger plug-in electric car registrations grew 70% year-on-year to 928,739 units in April 2023, Jose Pontes reports citing EV-Volumes data. Notably, that figure represented approximately 14% of the overall auto market globally.
Of that total, battery electric vehicles accounted for 10% of the market, while plug-in hybrids only contributed 4% in the fourth month of the year.
Global plug-in electric car sales – April 2023
BEVs controlled most of the plug-in electric car market, with sales of over 660,000, per InsideEVs’ estimate. Meanwhile, sales of PHEVs are far behind, with only around 265,000 units.
Interestingly, non-rechargeable hybrids also grew to 808,000 units in April, raising the total EV sales to over 1.7 million. However, we would not indicate them on the computation, as we focus on the global plug-in segment.
Plug-in car registrations in April:
| Powertrain | Sales | Market Share |
| BEVs | about *663,000 | 10% |
| PHEVs | about *265,000 | 4% |
| Total | 928,739 (up 70% YoY) | 14% |
Global plug-in electric car sales – YTD
Global plug-in electric car registrations reached over 3.5 million units this year, representing approximately 13% of the overall volume.
Plug-in car registrations YTD:
| Powertrain | Sales | Market Share |
| BEVs | about *2.51 million | 9.2% |
| PHEVs | about *0.99 million | 3.8% |
| Total | 3,500,691 (up 38% YoY) | 13% |
In hindsight, new passenger plug-in electric cars had record-breaking registrations of over 10 million globally in FY 2022.
Bestselling models – April
As expected, Tesla’s Model Y dominated the global plug-in electric car industry in April, selling nearly 75,000 units.
China’s BYD Qin Plus (BEV + PHEV) followed it from afar with 40,006 sales. Meanwhile, the world’s “most sought-after EV,” Tesla Model 3, ranked third with 38,217 sales.
Another two models from BYD completed the top five: Yuan Plus (aka Atto 3) with 38,108 sales and BYD Song Plus (BEV + PHEV) with 35,927 sales.
Top 10 for the month:
| Ranking | Model | Sales |
| 1 | Tesla Model Y | 74,546 |
| 2 | BYD Qin Plus (BEV + PHEV) | 40,006 |
| 3 | Tesla Model 3 | 38,217 |
| 4 | BYD Yuan Plus (aka Atto 3) | 38,108 |
| 5 | BYD Song Plus (BEV + PHEV) | 35,927 |
| 6 | BYD Dolphin | 30,607 |
| 7 | GAC Aion Y | 21,069 |
| 8 | GAC Aion S | 19,570 |
| 9 | Wuling Hong Guang MINI EV | 18,089 |
| 10 | Wuling Bingo | 15,011 |
Eight Chinese plug-ins and five BYD model families are among the top 10, demonstrating China’s dominance in 2023.
Bestselling brands – April
Chinese automaker BYD reported selling nearly 200,000 units, greatly exceeding any other brand among the top plug-in ranking for the month of April.
Top 10 for the month:
| Ranking | Brand | Sales |
| 1 | BYD | 198,941 |
| 2 | Tesla | 116,954 |
| 3 | GAC | 41,114 |
| 4 | SAIC-GM-Wuling | 34,551 |
| 5 | Volkswagen | 33,714 |
| 6 | BMW | 33,610 |
| 7 | Mercedes-Benz | 26,182 |
| 8 | Li Auto | 25,681 |
| 9 | Volvo | 22,313 |
| 10 | Geely | 21,797 |
With a significant lead over Tesla after the first four months, BYD is still the largest plug-in electric car maker (over 20% market share). Additionally, the Chinese EV giant increases BEV/PHEV sales more quickly than Tesla. Nonetheless, Tesla remains the only market leader in the all-electric vehicle segment.
See Also:
- Global Electric Vehicle sales surged more than 55% in 2022
- Top 5 Automakers: Most Global EV Sales
- Plug-in car sales topped 800,000 globally in February, 2023
- BYD passenger plug-in car sales surpassed 150,000 units globally in January 2023
- Tesla Model Y advances as the world’s best-selling car in Q1 2023
It is interesting to see how the American and Chinese EV leaders are closely competing with each other in the global plug-in car industry. BYD indeed has an advantage as its portfolio includes PHEVs, while Tesla only sells all-electric models. Nonetheless, the Musk-led automaker continues to defend its position, with the Tesla Model Y in the lead.
