QCOSTARICA – Costa Rica retained its leadership position within the Latin American region in 2022 with a record market share of 7.3% for the all-electric light passenger vehicle segment (cars, sport utility vehicles, and pickup trucks).
As illustrated in the chart above, the BEV¹ uptake in Costa Rica also exceeded the market shares achieved in Canada (6.1%) and the United States (5.3 %). Therefore, Costa Rica ranked as the country with the highest market share for the BEV segment in the Americas in 2022.
When accounting for sales of plug-in hybrid cars (PHEV), Costa Rica kept the lead within the Latin American region, but at the continental level, Canada was ahead with a market share of 7.7% for the entire plug-in electric car segment (PEV). Colombia, Brazil, annd Mexico practically double their market shares when PHEVs are considered, but their uptake still remained below 2%. In the case of Uruguay and Costa Rica, the market shares do not vary since sales of plug-in hybrid cars in both countries are negligible er— the existing tax incentive schemes only benefit 100% electric vehicles.
As for other segments, the case of Colombia is worth noting, as 1,006 new 100% electric buses were registered in 2022, thus surpassing Chile as the country with the largest fleet of e-buses in the Americas. However, Bogotá and Santiago continue to be the cities with the largest electric bus fleets outside of China.
Now focusing only on the Latin American region in terms of sales volume, Brazil was the country with the most sales of 100% electric cars (8,458) in 2022, and also the one that sold the most plug-in hybrids (10,348), for a total of 18,806 units. That surpassed Mexico (8,404 PEV sales) by a wide margin. Argentina, despite its large size, sold only 261 all-electric cars. In terms of sales volume in the BEV segment, small Costa Rica is only behind Brazil and Mexico.
At the end of 2022, there were around 5,300 cars and light commercial vehicles on the road in Costa Rica. Despite the rapid growth and its leadership at a regional and continental level, electric vehicles in use only represent 0.5% of the national stock of light vehicles. There is still a long way to go for Costa Rica and Latin America, and more affordable models are required.
Which was the best-selling electric car in Costa Rica in 2022?
A record number of 2,750 100% electric light vehicles were sold in Costa Rica in 2022, out of a total of 40,048 four-wheel motor vehicles. Sales in the light electric vehicle segment consisted of 2,674 passenger vehicles (includes cars, sport utility vehicles (SUVs) and pickups) and 76 light commercial vehicles (panel and light cargo).
Considering that total sales of the light passenger vehicle segment reached 36,495 units, the market share of the 100% electric light passenger segment reached a record 7.3% in 2022, allowing Costa Rica to maintain its leadership in the Latin American region in terms of penetration of 100% electric light passenger vehicles. In terms of sales volume, in 2022 Costa Rica was only surpassed in this segment by Brazil (8,458) and Mexico (around 5,000).
The list of the 20 best-selling light passenger electric vehicles in Costa Rica in 2022 is led by the BYD S1 PRO with 925 units, followed by the Audi e-tron with 352 and the BYD Yuan Plus with 158. The complete classification of the Top 20 is as follows:
From the list, we can see that purchases of electric cars are concentrated in some models, since the 20 best-selling electric cars accumulate 88% of the segment’s total sales. It is also observed that within the Top 20, eight models are high-end, representing 28% of all vehicles that top the sales list in 2022.
Finally, it should be noted that sales of electric vehicles were so significant in 2022 that one of the models, the BYD S1 Pro, placed sixth in the list of the 10 best-selling light passenger vehicles in the country regardless of the propulsion type.
It is noted that this list is also totally dominated by sport utility and pickup trucks, there is only one passenger car on the list.
Originally published in Spanish at Alemonterotech.
