The global electric vehicle market took a hit in the first quarter of 2024, and this was also evident in manufacturers’ Q1 sales numbers. Q1 2024 US EV sales were still up year-over-year, but only by 2.6%, while the EV share out of the total number of vehicles sold dropped 7.3% compared to Q4 2023.
Tesla felt the slowdown and was not able to deliver all the cars it built in this year’s first quarter, but its Model Y crossover was still the most popular EV in the US by far. Americans bought 268,909 EVs in Q1 2024, and over one-third were Tesla Model Ys, or 96,729 examples, making it a clear sales leader.
The EV sales data published by Kelley Blue Book's parent company Cox Automotive reveals that even despite the EV market slowdown, the Model Y still recorded a 1.4% Q1 sales increase year-over-year, while its lower, cheaper brother, the Model 3, saw a 43.9% decrease. Tesla’s smallest sedan sold 30,842 vehicles this past quarter, considerably down on Q1 2023, when almost 55,000 units were sold.
Model Y sales accounted for a 35.4% share of the entire US EV market in Q1, followed by Model 3 with 11.3%. In third place was the Ford Mustang Mach-E, which sold 9,589 vehicles and gained a 3.5% share. That’s up 77.3% compared to its Q1 2023 numbers. It’s followed by the Rivian R1S with 8,017 sales and a market share of 2.9%.
Next came another Ford, the F-150 Lightning, which sold 7,743 units in Q1 2024 for a 2.8% market share and an 80.4% Q1 increase year-over-year. Ford had a very good Q1 2024 and things seem to be looking up for the rest of the year too.
One of the lowest-selling EVs was the Genesis G80 Electrified. It only moved 104 units, which is 72.6% down year-over-year compared to the 380 examples sold in Q1 2023. Honda delivered 19 Prologues and there was even a new BMW i3 sale, even though the model was officially discontinued in July 2022 and now makes for a temptingly affordable second-hand buy.