Source: AutoCount data from Experian, California New Car Dealers Association
Note: New light vehicles only and does not include used vehicles and vehicles coming off lease. Cars include subcompact, compact, mid-size, large sedans and sports cars. Light trucks include pickup trucks, mini vans, large vans, and SUVs.
Analysis by CEC Economics
Highlights
- In 2023, the share of new registrations from light-duty pickup trucks, mini-vans, and SUVs reached a new height, making up 69.5% of new light duty vehicle registrations—up from 68.3% in 2022. The apparent and continuous shift toward bigger vehicles by Californians is due to the proliferation of crossover-SUVs, which share several similarities to passenger cars despite being classified as light trucks.41 After a year of supply chain issues and vehicle production cutbacks in 2022, new vehicle registration rebounded 11.9% in 2023, totaling 1.8 million vehicles (+11.9%). However, this is still below pre-pandemic levels of two million new vehicles registered per year. In 2023, total light truck registrations increased from 1.08 million vehicles to 1.23 million vehicles (+13.9%) while car sales increased 7.7% from 503,500 to 542,500.
- New battery electric vehicles’ (BEV) market share continues to make significant strides. In 2023, new BEVs registered accounted for 21.5% of total new vehicles registered in California—the first time that BEVs broke the 20% market share threshold.42 Meanwhile, the market share of plug-in hybrid vehicles (PHEV) rebounded from 2.7% in 2022 to 3.4% of total new vehicles registered in 2023. Together, new BEV and PHEV registrations totaled a quarter (24.7%) of new vehicle registrations in 2023, more than double 2021’s share of 11.6%. This represents an important milestone as California continues to make progress toward electrifying its largest GHG emitting sector.
- Although new pickup trucks, mini-vans, and SUVs, which have more relaxed corporate average fuel emissions (CAFE) standards than cars, continue to outsell cars and sedans by seven to three (and rising), some of the fastest growing vehicle sales come from ZEVs. Among compact SUVs, for example, Tesla Model Y was the best-selling vehicle in 2023 with 132,636 units sold, more than double the next best-selling vehicle, Toyota RAV4 with 58,496 units sold.
41 California New Car Dealers Association. California Auto Outlook. January 2024. Assessed July 18, 2024. Available at: https://www.cncda.org/wp-content/uploads/Cal-Covering-4Q-23.pdf
42 California New Car Dealers Association. California Auto Outlook. July 2024. Assessed August 28, 2024. Available at: https://www.cncda.org/wp-content/uploads/Cal-Covering-2Q-24.pdf
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