Tesla delivered more cars than Toyota in California in the second quarter of 2023, demonstrating the strong momentum of EVs in the largest U.S. new-car market.
Toyota has been the longtime best-selling brand in California, but its 67,482 registrations for Q2 were just behind Tesla's 69,212 registrations, according to a California New Car Dealers Association (CNCDA) report. Tesla registrations were up 62.3%, while Toyota registrations were down 8.3%, the report said.
Toyota still had the biggest market share of any brand in California for the first half of 2022, at 14.7% to second-place Tesla's 13.6% share. That market share is already higher than the 11% Tesla took in California for the whole of 2022, though.
California EV market share for first half of 2023 (via CNCDA)
The Tesla Model Y also continued its run as the top-selling model in California. Tesla's smaller crossover is also the top-selling vehicle nationwide, excluding pickup trucks.
The Japanese automaker also had four of the eight best-selling vehicles in main market segments tracked in the report, including the Camry sedan, Tacoma pickup, RAV4 compact SUV, and Highlander three-row SUV. The Tesla Model 3 and Model Y were also best-selling in their segments as the organization divides them.
New California EV registrations were up overall, growing 125% in the first half of the year. EVs also made up 21.1% of the California new-car market in the first half of year, compared to annual market share of 16.4% for 2022.
2024 Toyota Camry
California has long been the leader in plug-in car sales. In the first quarter of 2022, it accounted for 40% of U.S. EV and plug-in hybrid sales, according to numbers released by the California Energy Commission and interpreted by electric vehicle advocacy organization Veloz at the time.
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