Global battery electric vehicle (BEV) sales surged 78% year-over-year in March to 666,000 units as the world auto industry continues its transition away from internal combustion engines (ICE).
Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) remains the global electric vehicle market leader, accounting for about 20.7% of all the world's BEV sales so far in 2022. However, Tesla is facing unprecedented EV competition this year, and Elon Musk and company will have their hands full battling some impressive new EV models.
The Numbers: Bank of America analyst John Murphy recently discussed the state of the global EV market and broke down the best-selling BEVs of 2022 so far.
Murphy said the biggest challenge for the industry in the coming months is rising raw material costs and supply chain disruptions.
"We estimate that BEV prices will increase by at least >10% globally over the next few months, given that raw materials account for c75% of battery costs," he said.
It's no surprise that some familiar Tesla models are among this year's top global BEV sellers. Here are the models that round out the top five:
- Tesla Model Y: 169,682 units
- Tesla Model 3: 127.936 units
- Wuling HongGuang Mini: 100,361 units
- BYD Company ADR (OTC:BYDDY) Dolphin (EA1): 29,672 units
- BYD Han: 29,192 units
Market Leaders: In total, Tesla sold 310,411 EVs in the first quarter. Germany's Volkswagen A G (OTC:VWAGY) was a distant second at 99,672 units followed by Korea's Hyundai Motor Company GDR (OTC:HYMTF) at 90,265 units.
Since 2020, Tesla's share of the global BEV is down only 1.4%, while China's BYD's share is up 3.6% to 9.6% overall. China is currently by far the largest global EV market. There have been 905,108 BEVs sold in China so far this year, more than five times the 159,337 BEVs sold in the U.S.
Benzinga' Take: The Model Y and the Model 3 are exactly where Tesla investors like to see them, on top of the global BEV sales rankings. Still, expectations for Tesla remain extremely high given the stock's $840 billion market cap and Tesla's roughly 20% share of the EV market.
Photo: Model 3 courtesy Tesla Inc.
