US monthly new retail vehicle registrations reach 10-year high in March; EV market share surpasses 3% for first time

US new retail light vehicle registrations reached a
10-year high of 1.64 million in March 2021, and,
separately, electric vehicle retail market share in the
United States climbed to a record 3.1% in March, according
to an analysis of the most recent IHS Markit light vehicle
registration data. This comes at a time when US GDP is
expected to expand at 6.7% this year, according to IHS
Markit forecasts, as more Americans are vaccinated and the economy
re-opens.

“The 10-year industry registration record in March
is indeed remarkable as it exceeds any monthly result during the
four year stretch from 2015 through 2018 when industry
registrations surpassed 17 million every year, the highest volume
four-year stretch in history. On top of this, record monthly new
vehicle deliveries were occurring during the recovery period of the
worst pandemic in the United States in the past 100
years.”

— Tom Libby, associate director, automotive loyalty
and industry analysis, IHS Markit

From a regional growth perspective, March 2021 new vehicle
registrations in the Northeast climbed the most when compared to
March 2020, more than doubling to lead all regions with just over
336,000 units, due partially to an abnormally low base from
COVID-19 impacts last year. When comparing March 2021 to March 2019
to eliminate the impact of the virus, the Southwest region
outperformed all others, up 16% to more than 264,000
registrations.

Electric vehicle retail registrations in March captured more
than 3 percent of the US market for the first time in history,
reaching 3.1 percent share. Share rising from the 1-2 percent range
to the 3-4 percent range is significant as it signifies the EV
category is moving from a “niche” status in the direction of
mainstream. Of comparable note, March 2021 CYTD US market shares
for two widely accepted and respected brands, Kia and Subaru, are
both 4.1 percent overall.

New EV retail registrations more than doubled in March to
42,591, with eight of the ten most popular electric vehicles
displaying triple digit growth over March 2020 (one of the
remaining two was not on the market a year ago). These models,
their volumes, and their year-over-year changes are shown
below.

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Source: http://ihsmarkit.com/research-analysis/us-monthly-new-retail-vehicle-registrations-reach-10year-high.html