New EV registrations: GM, Ford, Rivian chip away at Tesla's share

Electric cars and trucks captured 7 percent of the U.S. light-vehicle market in the first quarter of this year, up from 4.6 percent in the year-earlier period, according to new-vehicle registration data from Experian.

EV registrations numbered 257,507 for an increase of 63 percent. Total industry registrations were just over 3.69 million, Experian said, an increase of 8.4 percent.

The growth is coming as traditional automakers turn on the faucet for new EV models. Legacy brands and recent industry startups took nearly 40 percent of new U.S. EVregistrations in the first quarter, chipping away at Tesla's market dominance, according to Experian data.

Brands gaining EV market share include Chevrolet, Ford, Volkswagen, Rivian, Mercedes-Benz and BMW, Experian numbers show. Those losing ground compared with the first quarter of last year include Tesla, Hyundai, Kia, Audi, Nissan and Polestar.

Overall, Tesla still had the bulk of the EV market with 6 of 10 registrations, but that was a drop from its 72 percent market share a year earlier.

Tesla's Model Y captured a 36 percent share in the first quarter, thanks to price cuts and new eligibility for a federal tax incentive as of Jan. 1.

Tesla's total new registrations rose 37 percent to 155,360 in the first quarter, Experian said.

Because Tesla doesn't break out U.S. sales from global numbers, registrations serve as a proxy.

J.D. Power said in a report earlier this month that despite growing market share for EVs, many consumers are still wary of the new technology. Barriers include a lack of reliable public charging infrastructure, relatively high purchase prices and confusing new rules for federal EV incentives. J.D. Power said EV market share fell to 7.3 percent in March from 8.5 percent in February.

"Although some month-to-month volatility is to be expected, a closer look at the barriers to EV adoption shows that many new-vehicle shoppers are becoming more adamant about their decision to not consider an EV," J.D. Power said in the report.

In March, 21 percent of shoppers said in a survey that they were "very unlikely" to buy an EV, up from 19 percent in February, J.D. Power said.

But the market is changing.

Chevrolet's Bolt EV and slightly larger Bolt EUV had 7.7 percent of the EV market in the January-March period compared with just 0.3 percent a year earlier, according to Experian. General Motors, which paused Bolt sales last year due to a recall, plans to discontinue the sub-$30,000 EVs at the end of the year.

In addition to their low sticker prices, the Bolt siblings qualify for the new EV tax credit of up to $7,500 for buyers. GM recovered access to the tax credit on Jan. 1 under revised IRS rules. GM, like Tesla, lost access to the credit in 2020 after hitting its 200,000-vehicle quota under the old rules.

New Bolt registrations rose to 19,947 in the first quarter, compared with 477 last year, Experian data showed. The subcompact hatchback twins are Chevrolet's only EV models on sale.

The Ford brand was in third place for EV registrations with 13,362, for an 82 percent increase, the quarterly data showed. Its EV share in the first quarter rose to 5.2 percent from 4.6 percent a year earlier.

Mustang Mach-E registrations fell 12 percent to 6,110 in the quarter. Some Mustang Mach-E production was lost because of factory upgrades, Ford said. F-150 Lightning registrations rose to 5,652 from just 53 a year earlier, and e-Transit van registrations rose to 1,600 from 348, Experian data showed.

Volkswagen registrations for its ID4 rose 244 percent to 10,053 for fourth place on the EV brand chart. VW's market share more than doubled to 3.9 percent from the year-earlier quarter.

U.S. production of the ID4 started late last year, replacing ID4 imports from Germany. The crossover — VW's only EV on sale in the U.S. — qualifies for the $7,500 federal tax incentive.

Hyundai's EV registrations rose 16 percent to 8,064, but its EV market share fell to 3.1 percent in the quarter from 4.4 percent last year as the automaker failed to keep pace with overall gains in the market.

Hyundai buyers lost access to the $7,500 tax credit last summer under new IRS rules that require North American assembly.

Registrations for the Hyundai Ioniq 5 compact crossover fell 6.7 percent to 5,839, Experian said, while registrations for the brand's smaller Kona Electric rose 190 percent to 1,975. The recently launched Ioniq 6 sedan had 249 registrations.

Mercedes-Benz captured 2.8 percent of the EV market, up from 1.3 percent a year earlier, for sixth place, Experian said. EQS vehicles, including a sedan and a crossover, had 4,487 registrations for a 261 percent increase over the first quarter of 2022.

Two new Mercedes vehicles, the EQB crossover and EQE sedan, had combined registrations of 2,681, Experian said. Neither vehicle was on sale in the U.S. in first-quarter 2022.

California-based Rivian Automotive had 7,134 registrations for the first quarter, vs. 704 last year. The EV startup saw its market share rise to 2.8 percent from 0.4 percent a year earlier.

Registrations of the Rivian R1T pickup rose to 4,109 in the first quarter from 704 a year earlier. The R1S crossover had 3,025 registrations vs. zero in the year-earlier period, Experian said.

BMW's EV market share increased to 2.8 percent from 0.1 percent a year earlier on registrations of 7,107 for eighth place among brands selling EVs in the U.S.

The BMW i4 sedan had 4,547 registrations, the iX crossover had 2,232 and the i7 sedan had 328, Experian said.

Kia's EV registrations in the first quarter fell 28 percent to 6,046 and its EV market share dropped to 2.3 percent from 5.3 percent a year earlier. Like its corporate sibling Hyundai, Kia lost access to the $7,500 tax credit last summer because its vehicles are imported from Korea.

In 10th place among EV sellers was Audi, which saw its market share fall to 1.7 percent for the quarter, compared with 2.2 percent a year earlier. But the brand's various E-tron models had 4,494 new registrations for a 26 percent increase.

Nissan's EV market share fell to 1.7 percent from 2.8 percent on first-quarter registrations of 4,365, including 1,889 for its new Ariya crossover.

Volvo's EV registrations grew 57 percent to 2,763 in the quarter, Experian said, with the automaker's share of the EV market unchanged at 1.1 percent. Its affiliate brand Polestar was close behind with 2,630 registrations of its Polestar 2 hatchback, although its market share fell to 1 percent from 1.5 percent.

EV startup Lucid had 1,739 registrations of its Air sedan in the first quarter for 0.7 percent of the market. Cadillac had 945 registrations of its Lyriq crossover and GMC had 17 registrations of its Hummer EV pickup, vs. 79 registrations a year earlier.

Toyota had 1,570 registrations of its new bZ4x electric crossover and Lexus had 138 of its new RZ crossover, which shares a platform with the Toyota EV. Subaru's Solterra, which also shares the Toyota platform, had 1,399 registrations, Experian said.

Genesis had 786 EV registrations spread among three models and Vietnamese automaker Vinfast had 17 registrations of its VF 8 crossover that launched earlier this year. m