Tesla Model 3 is still the best-selling electric car in the world, and no other vehicle program is even coming close.
Automakers other than Tesla are going to have to invest more in high-volume electric vehicles.
Tesla Model 3
The Model 3 was the true first high-volume electric car program, and it is still on another level than every other electric car out there.
Tesla invested heavily in the program, including building Gigafactory Nevada with Panasonic to have the battery cell production capacity to support the Model 3.
The automaker went into what it called “production hell” during the ramp-up in 2017-2019, but it came out the other side with an impressive production capacity at Fremont factory, and in 2020, it added Model 3 production capacity at Gigafactory Shanghai.
It enabled the Model 3 program to grow into the market leader in electric vehicles by a wide margin.
Best-selling electric cars in the world
EV Sales Blogspot, which has been tracking electric vehicle sales worldwide for a long time, released its global 2020 sales reports.
Here’s the top 10 list of the best-selling EVs in the world:
| Place | Model | 2020 sales | Market Share | Place in 2019 |
| 1 | Tesla Model 3 | 365,240 | 12% | 1 |
| 2 | Wuling HongGuang Mini EV | 119,255 | 4% | N/A |
| 3 | Renault Zoe | 100,431 | 3% | 8 |
| 4 | Tesla Model Y | 79,734 | 3% | N/A |
| 5 | Hyundai Kona EV | 65,075 | 2% | 9 |
| 6 | VW ID.3 | 56,937 | 2% | N/A |
| 7 | Nissan Leaf | 55,724 | 2% | 3 |
| 8 | Audi e-tron | 47,928 | 2% | 25 |
| 9 | Baojun E-Series | 47,704 | 2% | 5 |
| 10 | GW ORA R1/ Black Cat | 46,796 | 1% | 27 |
As you can see, the Model 3 remains at the top spot with an extremely wide margin of almost 250,000 vehicles.
The difference between Tesla Model 3 and the second best-selling model is bigger than the total sales of the next two best-selling EVs combined.
Also, the second best-selling vehicle, the Wuling HongGuang Mini EV, is a very small and inexpensive city car that isn’t really comparable with the Model 3 or most EVs on that list.
The Renault Zoe is the most comparable vehicle and next best-selling EV on the list, and it remains consistent with another great year of sales now surpassing 100,000 units.
Tesla also owns the fourth spot with the Model Y, though it would be important to note that Model 3 and Model Y sales are estimates since Tesla doesn’t release data about the vehicles individually.
We do have separate data from some markets that release registration data, but that data needs to be reconciled with some estimates.
Elon Musk mentioned in his chat with Sandy Munroe this week at about 22 minutes in that Model 3 was still outselling Model Y.
How is it going to change in 2021?
With Model Y production still ramping up in 2020, Tesla recently starting production of the electric SUV at Gigafactory Shanghai, and plans to start Model Y production at Gigafactory Texas and Berlin later this year, it is likely that Model Y will become the new best-selling electric vehicle in 2021.
But the entire list is likely to get a decent shake-up this year.
VW managed to sell over 50,000 ID.3s in 2020 despite only starting deliveries toward the end of the year.
With production recently starting at the transparent factory, the German automaker is likely going to push the program into the six figures.
The same is likely going to happen for the ID.4.
But it will be harder for other lower-volume vehicle programs, like Mustang Mach-E, to make the top 10 list.
Some Chinese EV programs from Xpeng and Nio are likely going to reach six figures too, which could make the top 10 all over 100,000 units.
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Author: Fred Lambert
Source: Electrek
