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Tesla’s US EV market share falls below 50% in Q2 as Ford, Kia and BMW all see growth
As electric vehicle sales continue to grow in the U.S., albeit at a slower pace than expected, Tesla’s market share has fallen below an important level as improved competing electric vehicle offerings have arrived in showrooms.
Cox Automotive’s latest electric vehicle sales report found that Tesla’s share of U.S. electric vehicle sales fell below 50% for the first time, to 49.7%. This comes as Cox estimates that overall electric vehicle sales grew to about 8% of the total market, up from 7.2% in the second quarter of last year, in what it calls a “record” quarter.
“Despite Tesla’s sales decline, with its share of EV sales now below 50% for the first time, the overall competitive landscape for EVs is intensifying,” Stephanie Valdez Streaty, director of industry insights at Cox Automotive, said in the report.
Looking at Cox’s dataset from 2019, Tesla’s market share peaked at 82.5% in Q3 2019 and has been steadily declining since then. The steepest decline has occurred in recent quarters, starting in Q4 2021, when Tesla’s market share was at 77.5%. It has fallen to 50.2% in less than two years (Q2 2023) as new brands and EVs from traditional automakers have entered the market.
Tesla’s market share decline coincides with a drop in second-quarter deliveries. Tesla said it delivered 443,956 vehicles during the second quarterhigher than the 386,810 vehicles delivered globally in the first quarter, but lower than the approximately 466,140 delivered a year ago.
With Tesla now at 49.7% of the market, Cox found that Ford’s Mustang Mach-E, Ford Lightning EV pickup truck and E-Transit cargo vans put it in second place with a 7.2% share. Kia, its sister brand Hyundai and BMW rounded out the top five.
Digging deeper into the fastest-growing brands in Q2, GM’s Cadillac took top honors with EV sales growth of more than 440%, driven by its LYRIQ midsize SUV EV. While Cadillac’s LYRIQ had its initial launch delayed while GM worked out issues with its Ultium EV platform, sales momentum has been building since the start of the year. Toyota saw its sole EV — the bZ4X — increase sales to more than 7,000 units in Q2 (up from 2,000 a year ago), albeit reportedly at steep discounts.
“This heightened competition is leading to continued pricing pressure, gradually increasing EV adoption,” Cox’s Valdez Streaty said. “Automakers that deliver the right product at the right price and provide an excellent consumer experience will lead the way in EV adoption.”
Greater affordability may be spurring sales at Ford, Kia and Hyundai. Kia’s moderately priced EV6 crossover, EV9 large SUV and Niro subcompact are reaching larger segments of the market, along with Hyundai’s similarly priced Ioniq 5 crossover and Ioniq 6 sedan.
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Luxury brands like BMW and Cadillac are likely excelling in the area of customer service, Valdez Streaty noted, with higher-income buyers valuing dealer experience along with product mix in their purchasing decisions. BMW’s electric vehicles, such as the BMW iX SUV, i4 coupe and i7 full-size luxury sedan, have boosted sales.
On the other hand, BMW’s rival Mercedes, which has leaned heavily into high-priced, luxury electric vehicles, saw EV sales decline in the second quarter (down 22.3%) as its high-priced offerings failed to resonate with consumers. Mercedes has now pivoted to gasoline-powered vehicles and no longer sees itself becoming fully electric by 2030.
Pras Subramanian is a Yahoo Finance reporter covering the auto industry. You can follow him on Twitter is at Instagram.
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