Photo by Austin Ramsey on Unsplash

Homegrown Chinese brands undergird much of the momentum in global auto market.

The global sales of new energy vehicles reached 6.5 million units in 2021, an increase of 108% over the same period last year, data released by an EV information provider shows.

According to EV Volumes, Tesla (TSLA) sold 936,172 units, ranking first among NEV brands for four consecutive years. BYD (BYDDF) was placed second with 593,878 cars sold, followed by SAIC-GM-Wuling’s 456,123.

In terms of model rankings, Tesla's Model 3 sedan sold more than 500,000 units in 2021, making it the world's best-selling pure electric model. Meanwhile, customers across the globe took delivery of more than 410,000 of its Model Y SUVs, which ranked third. The SAIC-GM-Wuling’s compact Mini EV came in second with 424,000 sold.

Eight of the top 20 brands are from China, including BYD, SAIC,s, GAC Aion, Chery Auto, XPeng, Li Auto and Changan Automobile. Together they accounted for 28% of the global NEV sales.

In December, Tesla hit another monthly sales record with 170,000 new registrations, the first time the company has exceeded a monthly average of 100,000 in a single quarter.

In the same month, BYD also logged a record 93,293 registrations, and the Chinese carmaker is on track to continue its rapid growth this year, putting it on a collision course with Tesla in 2022.

Tesla owns more than 10% of the NEV market share worldwide. It is also the fourth consecutive year that Tesla has topped the world's rankings for new energy passenger car sales after 2018. However, Tesla's global market share has been declining since 2019. It stood at 12% in 2018, before peaking at 17% in 2019. The figure has since fallen to 16% in 2020 and 14% in 2021.