Chinese BYD already occupies 3rd place in the ranking of electric car sales, tied with Mercedes, but Tesla leads
The North American car manufacturer Tesla led sales of electric cars in Portugal last September, with a total of 1025 new units placed on the market, which means a ‘shot’ of 189.5% compared to the same period in 2023 .
This is one of the conclusions that can be drawn from the statistics released this Wednesday by the Automobile Association of Portugal (ACAP), which also shows that the Chinese brand BYD is already the third best-selling in Portugal, with 300 units sold in September, thus having equaled the German giant Mercedes in monthly sales volume.
Second place in the ranking was once again given to BMW, with 346 new electric cars placed on the national market during the month of September.
BYD overtakes European giants
It should be noted that newcomer to the market BYD – present in Portugal for around 14 months – is already selling more electric cars than veteran and established European brands such as Volkswagen, Audi, Citroën, Renault, Opel or Fiat.
Still regarding Chinese car brands, it should be noted that in just three working days (it was launched nationwide on September 26th) Xpeng, represented in Portugal by Salvador Caetano, has already sold 11 cars.
This brand debuted with three electric models on the national market, and currently has two points of sale, one in Lisbon and the other in Porto. He expects to have four more by the end of the year and 15 by the end of 2025.
Porsche grows 927.3%
A brand in the super sports car segment that also stood out last September was the German Porsche, with 113 units sold, and a year-on-year growth of 927.3%, the most significant among all electric car brands sold in Portugal.
Out of curiosity, ACAP data also reveals that during the month of September an electric Rolls Royce was sold – the Specter model – whose market prices can vary between 500 thousand and 600 thousand euros, depending on the extra equipment required by the buyer.
In the first nine months of the year, the North American Tesla clearly leads the national ranking of electric car sales, with 7,227 units sold, according to ACAP.
Second place on the podium is occupied by BMW, with 2887 units, and third by Swedish Volvo (which also has Chinese capital) with 2389 cars placed on the market.
