Tesla’s competition in the electric vehicle market has been heating up over the past two years as more EV manufacturers ramp up production and deliveries.
Elon Musk’s Austin, Texas-based company has seen its share of the EV market shrink from about 79% in 2020 to 75.8% in June 2022 to about 65% today as rival automakers continue to ramp up their factories.
Tesla still has a lot of good news to report through the first three quarters of 2022, as it is well on its way to delivering 1 million EVs with 908,000 delivered in the year through Sept. 30 after delivering 343,000 in the third quarter. The company also rolled out its newest EV on Dec. 1 with the delivery of its Semi Trucks.
While Tesla’s top competitors in the U.S. hold small percentages of the market — Ford 7%; Kia, 5%; Chevrolet, 4%, Hyundai, 4% — these companies and smaller ones are setting records at delivering EVs as they increase production.
Ford reported in November that it had a 103% year-over-year increase in EV sales. Kia in the same month said it had a 133% increase in sales year-over-year. Volkswagen reported in November that it had reached its delivery benchmark of 500,000 units a year earlier than expected after recording a 25% year-over-year increase in deliveries in October.
Tesla is seeing increased pressure coming from China, and not just from covid pandemic-related restrictions and factory closures. Chinese rivals Nio, Li Auto (LI) , and BYD all had impressive numbers for November.
BYD reported that it sold 113,915 fully electric vehicles in November, which was a 147% increase year-over-year. It also sold 116,027 plug-in hybrids, which was a 164% year-over-year increase.
Nio on Dec. 1 reported it delivered 14,178 vehicles in November, a new record-high delivery amount, for an increase of 30.3% year-over-year. Cumulative deliveries of Nio vehicles reached 273,741 as of Nov. 30.
Nio’s November deliveries consisted of 8,003 premium smart electric SUVs including 4,897 ES7s, and 6,175 premium smart electric sedans including 3,207 ET7s and 2,968 ET5s.
Nio said that it plans to further accelerate production and delivery in December.
Li Auto on Dec. 1 said that it delivered a record-high 15,034 EVs in November for an 11.5% year-over-year increase. Cumulative deliveries through November reached 236,101.
“We set another monthly record with 15,034 deliveries in November,” Yanan Shen, co-founder and president of Li Auto said in a statement “In particular, Li L9 has been the sales champion of full-size SUVs in China for two consecutive months since it commenced delivery, establishing it as a top choice for six-seat full-size family SUVs in China.”
Shen said that the Li L9 SUV in November received the highest safety rating for tests on the driver and passenger sides from the China Insurance Automotive Safety Index.
NIO and Tencent Holdings on Nov. 28 entered into a strategic cooperation agreement to further deepen partnership in the areas of autonomous driving related cloud services, intelligent driving maps and digital ecosystem to provide users with experiences beyond expectation, according to a statement.
