In 2022, the EV market continued to thrive. According to the annual figures of vehicle sales among EV makers, Tesla was the unquestionable leader and topped the list by a wide margin. What surprised the market was that the pricey BMW iX delivered a stronger sales performance than the much more economical Kia EV6.
As 2022 ended, vehicle sales figures were finally announced. TechNews has identified Taiwan’s top 15 EV models by sales for readers’ reference.
Tesla’s Model 3, unsurprisingly, was crowned champion with a total of 7,931 cars sold. The Model Y, which just started deliveries in December, rapidly climbed to the second place with sales of 3,644 units. According to the current trend, Model Y will surpass Model 3 to become the world’s best-selling car in 2023.
▲ 2022 Best-selling EVs in Taiwan (Source: TechNews)
Looking at the non-Tesla group, four models reached sales of over 500 units (for Taycan, the sales of two of its models were added up). Surprisingly, Kia only sold 626 EV6s (the most affordable compared to the other three models), which was 100 fewer than BMW’s iX. It should be noted that the iX is nearly twice as expensive as the EV6. In addition to the brand concern, Kia, despite having received 1,500 orders, could only deliver some of the purchased cars as its quota was limited.
Taking non-EVs into consideration, Kia only sold 4,872 cars in 2022; specifically, 626 of them are all-electric cars, accounting for 12% of total sales. This exemplified the EV6’s importance for the South Korean carmaker’s business in Taiwan. Moreover, Kia is not the only manufacturer having trouble with deliveries, as the Porsche Taycan and Hyundai IONIQ 5 are both in shortage globally. Before these automakers catch up with demand, the lead time will hardly be shortened.
After suspending the production of its first-gen EV i3, BMW sold a total of 958 iX (SUV) and i4 (coupe) models, moderately accounting for 5% of the group’s total sales.
In 2022, Toyota launched its first all-electric SUV bZ4X, aiming to compete with Tesla, but it spent 3 months on dealing with the hub bolt issue. Before recalling the sold cars, sales was barely satisfactory. Afterwards, the company decided to increase the sales price and resumed production. It has so far sold only 128 units, which was 19 fewer than the number of EQS EVs sold by Mercedes Benz (i.e., 147 units)—despite each costing 3 to 4 times the price of a bZ4X.
Entering 2023, Mercedes Benz is likely to deliver even stronger performance in selling its EVs. The existing EQS is targeted at high-end customers, while the mid to high-end models EQE and EQE SUV will not be available in the global market until 2023. Additionally, the EQS SUV will allegedly be available in Taiwan, which will then make the German carmaker’s lineup more complete.
Originally, only EVs with sales of over 100 units will be listed in the above graph, but Audi’s e-tron is included eventually, as the model is largely similar to the e-tron Sportback, adding up to 260 units sold. However, the combined number is still lower than that of the iXs sold, demonstrating that the BMW model has outperformed its competitors of the same level regarding brand, pricing and specs.
Notably, small EVs still had a niche market in Taiwan throughout 2022, with Nissan and Hyundai selling 110 and 101 Leaf and Kona EVs, respectively. Particularly, it is hard not to notice that Nissan managed to find suitable customers for its decade-old Leaf. With a few specs upgrades, the vehicle was sold out, including its pre-order quota.
Concerning pricing, vehicle software, charging accessories and car specs, Tesla still dominates the Taiwanese market, which is no exception, as the EV maker has also delivered exceptional sales performance in the US EV market.
▲2022 Best-selling EVs in U.S. (Source: statista)
Tesla’s two best-selling models, the Model Y and Model 3, have outsold EVs made by other competitors by a large margin. Despite their ambitious plans, these conventional automakers cannot compete with the Model Y’s out-of-sight performance.
(Credit of the first image: Tesla Taiwan)