Home » Electric Vehicles » Tesla sold quarter of all global electric vehicle market in 2020

Tesla sold quarter of all global electric vehicle market in 2020

Tesla Model Y, Shanghai. Source: Tesla/Weibo
Tesla Model Y, Shanghai. Source: Tesla/Weibo

The Driven

Tesla sold almost one quarter of all the electric vehicles worldwide in 2020, retaining its place as the global market leader, and will likely hold the upper hand for 2021.

Claiming 23% of the entire battery-electric car market, and 16% of the entire plug-in market (which includes battery electric vehicles – BEVs – and plug-in hybrids, or PHEVs), Tesla outdid fellow electric heavyweights Volkswagen and Chinese-owned SAIC on both fronts.

While Tesla only barely missed its own 2020 sales target of 500,000 in what was a challenging year for the auto market at large, it outsold both the challengers two-to-one according to figures compiled by EV Sales’

With its Model 3 now well established in domestic and overseas markets and output from its Shanghai factory a good 12 months into production, Tesla also released its Model Y electric crossover onto the local US market.

The results underline the stronghold Tesla continues to have on the global EV market without spending a cent on advertising, which other carmakers must now double-down on if they are to catch up (case in point: GM’s anti-Norway Super Bowl advertising campaign).

To read the full version of this story, please go to our EV-focussed sister site, The Driven and click here…

Bridie Schmidt is lead reporter for The Driven, sister site of Renew Economy. She specialises in writing about new technology, and has a keen interest in the role that zero emissions transport has to play in sustainability.

Get up to 3 quotes from pre-vetted solar (and battery) installers.