Polestar, Lucid, Rivian: When talking about manufacturers exclusively producing battery electric vehicles (BEV), most of Tesla's direct competitors have a long way to go before they'll be able to reach the U.S. automaker's standing and success. Even though the latter's profit was largely based on carbon credits in the past, it managed to ship 627,371 cars in the first three quarters of 2021, a year-on-year increase of 98 percent. As our chart shows, the market share of Elon Musk's company still took a hit this past year.
While Tesla made up more than a quarter of all BEV sales worldwide from Q1 to Q3 2020, its market share dropped by almost five percent in the same period of 2021. One of the reasons is the surge in popularity and accessibility of the cars made by the SAIC-GM-Wuling conglomerate, which produces not only models with internal combustion engines (ICE), but also battery-powered and plug-in hybrid alternatives. China's best selling BEV, the Wuling Hongguang Mini EV, found 256,661 new owners from January to September 2021 according to the China Passenger Car Association, amounting to cumulative sales of more than 400,000 since its debut in July of 2020. At a base price of about $4,500, it costs a tenth of the cheapest new Tesla model. According to Inside EVs, the Tesla Model 3 Rear-Wheel Drive clocks in at approximately $45,000 while offering more than three times the reach than the smaller and slower Hongguang Mini EV. Both models are aimed at a different audience but will likely lead the conversation when it comes to the volume of BEVs sold in the upcoming months. This hints towards the fact that Tesla's has to mostly keep an eye not on BEV-exclusive manufacturers, but legacy car makers.
Tesla's Head of Investor Relations Martin Viecha seems to share the view that it's competing with traditional car producers, although he sees the roles of hunter and hunted reversed. "Over 90 percent of cars sold [in 2021] will be ICEs", he explained on Twitter. "It's the ICEs that lose share to all competitive EVs." Even though ICE-powered cars still make up the majority of sales, the same big carmakers are constantly expanding their plug-in hybrid and battery electric fleets. Audi, for example, has pledged to release only battery-powered new models after 2026, while Volvo and Nissan are aiming for the same goal by 2030.
