How many fully electric vehicles, traditional hybrids and plug-in hybrids were sold in South Africa in Q3 2024? Let’s take a closer look at the official NEV sales figures…
Naamsa has released official sales figures for new-energy vehicles (NEVs) – that is, fully electric vehicles (EVs), traditional hybrids and plug-in hybrids (PHEVs) – for the 3rd quarter of the year. So, is this section of the market still growing?
Well, according to the industry representative body, collective NEV sales from the 17 brands active in this space during the reporting period increased 88% year on year to 3 824 units in the 3rd quarter of 2024. This comes after Q2 2024 enjoyed a whopping 169.8% year-on-year growth to 4 122 units.
By our maths, that takes the NEV segment’s year-to-date total at the end of the 3rd quarter of 2024 to a new high of 10 988 units. As a reminder, this part of the market saw significant year-on-year increases of 421.7% (to 4 674 units) in 2022 and 65.7% (to 7 746 units) in 2023, though both instances came off low bases.
It’s worth keeping in mind electrified vehicles still comprise only a small (but growing) fraction of local registrations, with NEV sales – Naamsa seemingly doesn’t include mild hybrids in this group – breaching the 1% barrier for the 1st time last year, having comprised 1.45% of the total new-vehicle market. Over the opening 3 quarters of 2024, NEV registrations represented 2.91% of the total market, based on our calculations.
According to Naamsa, EV registrations in Q3 2024 came in at 324 units, up from 218 units in Q3 2023 but down from 419 units in Q2 2024. By our maths, that pushes the year-to-date EV total to 1 073 units (with 3 months of sales still to be added), surpassing the previous high of 929 units achieved over the entirety of 2023 and breaching the 4-figure mark for the first time.
What about plug-in hybrids? Well, PHEVs were once again less popular than fully electric vehicles, with only 170 units sold in Mzansi in the 3rd quarter of the year. Still, that’s up from the 117 units sold in Q3 2023 as well as the 160 units registered in Q2 2024. Our calculations furthermore suggest the year-to-date PHEV total sits at 468 units, well past the 2023’s final tally of 336 units.
Traditional hybrids again accounted for the overwhelming majority of NEV registrations in Q3 2024 (largely thanks to dual-powered versions of the strong-selling, Prospecton-built Corolla Cross), with a figure of 3 330 units. That’s up markedly on the Q3 2023 number (1 699 units) but down slightly on Q2 2024’s effort (3 543 units).
Year to date at the end of September 2024, the traditional hybrid total comes in at 9 447 units, according to our arithmetic. That means this segment has blown past 2023’s overall number of 6 518 units…
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