The latest sales data, released by the EV Sales Blog, reveals that most passenger plug-in cars sold in the first quarter of 2020 were made by five automotive groups.

The total volume exceeds 460,000 (down 6% year-over-year), and the top five were responsible for over 59%.

The top player is – without any surprise – Tesla, which also improved its market share to 19%. However, the Volkswagen Group also has reasons to be happy, as its share more than doubled to 13%. In third is Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance with 11% share (also noticeably increased).

It’s important to note that the Q1 results are highly affected by the COVID-19 outbreak in China in the first months of the year, which basically eliminated Chinese groups (BYD, BAIC, SAIC) from the top five.

Plug-in car sales in Q1 2020:

• 1) Tesla: 88,400 (19% share – vs 17% in Q1-Q4 2019)
• 2) Volkswagen Group: 59,916 (13% share – vs 6% in Q1-Q4 2019)
• 3) Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance: 51,361 (11% share – vs 8% in Q1-Q4 2019)
• 4) BMW Group: 37,041 (8% share – vs 7% in Q1-Q4 2019)
• 5) Hyundai Motor Group (Hyundai, Kia): 36,846 (8% share – vs 6% in Q1-Q4 2019)
• Top 5 total: 273,564 (59.4% share)
• others: 186,942 (40.6% share)
• Total: 460,506

If we subtract plug-in hybrids, the top five for the year is slightly different, but not that much. First of all, sales of all-electric cars amounted to about 309,939 (about 67.3% of plug-ins), and 66% of them were supplied by five automotive groups.

Since Tesla sells only all-electric cars, subtracting PHEVs naturally translates into an even higher market share – 29%, which additionally was highly increased compared to 2019. The good news for Tesla is that the company can benefit from the Tesla Gigafactory 3 in China, while Europe, North America and most of the rest of the world experience lockdown.

The next two groups are Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance and Volkswagen Group, both moving up quickly, but still would be behind Tesla even if we would combine them into a single giga-group.

In fourth place we see Hyundai Motor Group, also improving its share, while BYD catches 5th place despite a significant sales drop.

Plug-in car sales in Q1 2020:

• 1) Tesla: 88,400 (29% share – vs 23% in Q1-Q4 2019)
• 2) Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance: 39,355 (13% share – vs 8% share in Q1-Q4 2019)
• 3) Volkswagen Group: 33,846 (11% share – vs 5% share in Q1-Q4 2019)
• 4) Hyundai Motor Group (Hyundai, Kia): 24,116 (8% share – vs 5% share in Q1-Q4 2019)
• 5) BYD: 18,834 (6% share – vs 9% share in Q1-Q4 2019)
• Top 5 total: 204,551 (66.0% share)
• others: 105,388 (34.0% share)
• Total: 309,939

See also our previous reports for automotive groups: