EVs Lead 5 Vehicle Categories in California

As I wrote earlier today, Tesla sales may have dropped a lot, but the brand still stands well above the crowd and carries the California EV market. That said, some other EVs are doing well, especially in their vehicle classes. In fact, there are 8 vehicle classes where electric vehicles made it into the top five models in the first half of the year, and there are 5 vehicle classes where EVs took the top spot. Yes, the Tesla Model Y and Tesla Model 3 led two of those categories, but scroll down to see the other winners.

As we can see above, it’s also worth noting that the BMW i4 took second place in the near luxury car category. This is the only category where electric cars took first and second place.

The next category where an EV model won most decisively is the luxury large SUV category. The Rivian R1S, which has always seemed like a great fit for the California market (progressives and hipsters but also outdoors types), had almost 1,000 more sales than the #2 Lexus TX — 4,071 versus 3,158.

There are some issues with tracking the EV leaders well in the California market. For example, the Cadillac Escalade now has an electric version, the Escalade IQ, but we don’t know what portion of those Escalade sales are the IQ versus the traditional gas powertrain. The Chevrolet Equinox EV is another popular EV model but it must be included in the overall numbers for the Chevrolet Equinox (which is third in its vehicle category).

Moving on to the next EV leading its vehicle class, we get the Mercedes-Benz EQB, which had a strong win in the luxury subcompact SUV category. Good job, Mercedes. (Side note: even here in Florida, I feel like I see as many electric Mercedes as non-electric now, so I expect to see it doing better and better in these rankings. Though, maybe I just pay much more attention to the electric ones and overestimate them.)

To wrap things up as far as the winners, we actually have a new one here. The Lucid Air rose to the top of the pack in the luxury and high-end sports car category, barely outselling the Mercedes-Benz CLE-Class in the first half of the year. As you can see, the BMW i5 is also in the top five, and just 202 sales behind the leader. Needless to say, the ranking in this category could shift around a lot throughout the year. Compare to the Q1 ranking for an example of that.

Unfortunately, this next category is one where two EV models took 1st and 2nd place in Q1, now dropping to 3rd and 4th place. The Honda Prologue and Ford Mustang Mach-E are still solidly in the top 5, but they will need to do much better in coming quarters to get back to the top.

In the luxury midsize SUV category, we have the BMW iX in 5th. Perhaps it could climb up the rankings in coming quarters, but it’s a far way off of the top three, and other gas models may be right on its tail.

Last but … well, maybe least … we have the Volkswagen ID. Buzz, which just barely snuck into the top five for minivans. But maybe that’s just due to lack of options in this market. Let’s hope it can pick up its sales in coming quarters and live up to all of its hype and potential. It’s not off to a great start in the US, but I still feel like it could catch fire and become a much more popular vehicle.

Circling back to the leaders at the top, there is perhaps one more bright spot to note. The Model Y and Model 3 are so far ahead of their category competition, one would think that if more and more buyers moved from those two models to other EVs, EVs would lead or at least rise up the rankings in several more categories.