Tesla and BYD, two of the world’s biggest EV producers, have both released sales figures for the first quarter of 2024, with the two companies experiencing a sharp downturn compared to the hugely successful end to the previous year. Tesla has been enjoying quarterly increases in vehicle deliveries since a blip in the second quarter of 2022, but that all changed this month when it announced that its numbers have plummeted from a record high of 484,507 EVs at the tail end of last year, to just 386,810 at the start of 2024.
These figures could be viewed as an isolated incident, a general January tightening of belts, but BYD’s pure EV numbers also fell by over 200,000 units in the same period, a decline of around 43 per cent compared to the fourth quarter of 2023, according to Reuters. However, it did experience growth in its plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV).
Despite the issues faced by the big two, the same downward trend isn’t happening across the board, as XPeng, for example, experienced a remarkable 99 per cent increase of EV sales in China throughout March, compared to the previous month, and a 29 per cent increase year-on-year.
Nio and Li Auto also posted increases year-on-year sales figures in their domestic markets, while Ford and Kia also both stated that they experienced bumper EV sales in the US this quarter, with the latter buoyed by the launch of its award-winning Kia EV9 SUV.
Still, the number of Kia EV9s in Q1 of this year is small fry compared to its mass market ICE models, such as the Sportage, Sorento, and Forte, which continue to make up the bulk of Kia’s sales in the US.
Similarly, Ford has stated that its hybrid Maverick SUV accounted for a large chunk of its overall electrified sales, with 19,660 finding new homes in Q1.
That’s almost the same number as its entire pure EV figures (20,223), which includes the Mustang Mach-E, Ford F-150 Lightning, and its E-Transit commercial vehicle, during the same period.
