12.5% Of Cars Sold in Singapore In Q1 Were Battery-Electric Vehicles!
6,493 cars were sold in Singapore in the first three months of the year. 810 of these were fully electric and 51 were plug-in hybrids. That means 13.26% of the cars sold in that period had a plug, with full battery-electric vehicles dominating and reaching 12.5% for the quarter, which is pretty impressive.
Top 5 Battery-Electric Vehicles Sold In Singapore in Q1 2023
- Tesla: 165
- BMW: 163
- BYD: 124
- Mercedes-Benz: 93
- Opel: 75
Taking the number 1 position in Q1 was Tesla with 165 units sold last quarter. Tesla only just edged BMW by 2 units. Most Teslas sold in Singapore are Model Ys, which seem to be a huge favorite for Tesla fans in the market. The other model sold in Singapore is the Model 3. Hopefully, when the right-hand drive versions of the Model S and X are ready, they will also be offered in the Singapore market.
BMW registered 163 battery electric vehicles in Singapore in Q1. BYD also had a decent performance, taking third place with 124 units. The Atto 3 is the main model sold in Singapore, although the e6 is also available. The e6 is a useful long range model for fleets and taxi service applications as well. The BYD Dolphin will also be offered in the Singapore market later this year. Mercedes-Benz was in fourth place with 93 units registered, and Opel rounded up the top 5 with 75 units.
On the plug-in-hybrid side of things, BMW registered the most units with 21, followed by Ferrari and Volvo, which both had 9 registrations. Toyota was in third place, followed by BMW and a few others that had 2 units each. Will we see more Toyota PHEVs coming in the near future? Let’s wait and see.
Top 5 PHEVs in Singapore Q1 2023
- Mercedes-Benz: 21
- Ferrari: 9
- Volvo: 9
- Toyota: 3
- BMW: 2
*Several other brands sold 2 or less PHEVs in Singapore during Q1
*Tesla only makes BEVs
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The number of PHEVs sold in that period seems to suggest that BEVs have now surged well ahead of PHEVs in terms of customer preference in Singapore. However, it could also possibly point to a limited supply of PHEVs in the market. Nevertheless, it’s really good to see BEVs taking more than 10% of sales in the Singapore market.
The Singapore market is quite a small market. This is mostly because the government has put in place several measures to control the vehicle population in such a small country. Last year, just under 31,000 new vehicles were registered in Singapore. In 2021, 45,442 vehicles were registered, and 44,465 vehicles were registered in 2020. Just before the coronavirus lock-downs, 72,344 vehicles were registered in 2019 and 80,281 in 2018. I like to follow the progress of BEV sales in these small markets, as it gives an indication of where we are now along the transition to electric vehicles in more places around the world and not just in the traditional large auto markets.
The flow of cars into Singapore is tightly controlled using instruments like higher import duties and taxes compared to most countries around the world. They could actually extend this framework for managing inflows of vehicles to be heavily weighted towards electric vehicles. Singapore can easily follow in the footsteps of Norway and quickly become an all-BEV market for new vehicle sales in a short space of time.
Data from Singapore’s Land Transport Authority
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