Electric vehicles see a boost in early year sales in California

Sales of new cars and trucks in California inched forward in the first three months of the year while the electric vehicle market made some healthy improvement after months of flat results.

“It’s a credit to all the various factors that are making California’s economy continue to grow,” said Brian Maas, president of the California New Car Dealers Association, the Sacramento-based organization that released its quarterly report Tuesday. “It’s not growing like gangbusters like it was for a while there, particularly in the auto market, but up is better than down.”

While registrations for new vehicles fell 1.4 percent nationally, California dealers experienced a 0.7 percent increase in registrations, putting the state on the path for another year of sales exceeding 2 million vehicles.

In the same time frame, 4.8 percent of all new vehicles registered in the Golden State between January and March were zero emissions vehicles and plug-in hybrids, the highest ever recorded.

Nearly 14,000 electric vehicles (EVs) were purchased in the state, raising their share of the market from 1.9 percent in 2016 to 2.7 for the first quarter. The share of registrations for EVs in California had been stuck between 1.3 percent and under 2 percent since 2013.

Part of the boost in EV registrations is attributed to the debut of the Chevy Bolt, an all-electric car that can go about 200 miles between charges. With a list price of $30,000, not including government tax credits and rebates, the Bolt has been promoted as an EV for the masses.

In its first quarter in the dealers association rankings, the Bolt recorded 2,735 registrations in California, good enough for fourth place in the subcompact division, finishing behind the Nissan Versa, the Kia Soul and the Toyota Yaris.

“Having a product like the Chevy Bolt available, I think that helps broaden the type of consumer that is interested in purchasing a plug-in or a zero-emission vehicle,” Maas said.

Jeremy Acevedo, pricing and industry analyst for Edmunds.com, also pointed to a rise in deliveries from Tesla, whose Model X was not in full production in the first quarter of 2016.

“When you look at those two vehicles (the Bolt and the Model X), they’re definitely impactful releases in a segment that is drawing a lot more customers here in California,” Acevedo said.

Telsa saw a 61.7 percent increase over the first quarter of last year.

The best-selling vehicle in California in the first quarter was the Honda Civic, followed by the Honda Accord and the Toyota Camry.

As a point of reference, the Civic by itself (21,141 registrations) nearly equaled the output across every brand for all new EVs and plug-ins in the first quarter (24,270).

Tuesday’s report also underscored a trend in which sales of light trucks and SUVs keep improving.

New car registrations in California dropped 9.3 percent in the first quarter while light trucks were up 13.2 percent, mirroring similar numbers in San Diego County and across the nation.

“I think it’s a number of factors,” Maas said. “People like riding a little bit higher. I think they like the utility of an SUV, you can put more stuff in the back … And when gas prices are relatively low, your No. 1 criterion probably is not (miles per gallon) and then you’ll take a closer look at the SUV class opposed to passenger sedans.”

Last year, car sales nationally hit a new high — more than 17.5 million — but most industry analysts expect the numbers to plateau as pent-up demand is met by consumers who held off purchasing cars in the the wake of the economic turn-down.

But Acevedo said the numbers for the U.S. and California should remain stable.

“It has been seven years of continued growth for the industry, coming out of the recession,” Acevedo said. “The industry is leveling off at these relative highs. We’re not expecting a dramatic fall off or heading over a cliff.”

rob.nikolewski@sduniontribune.com

(619) 293-1251 Twitter: @robnikolewski