A different 2024 list: Toyota and BYD emerge on top

Unprecedented — but arguably not unexpected.

The new car registration figures for 2024 are finally in, and as you’ve probably read, BYD has vaulted to the top of the chart when factoring in numbers only from our authorised dealers. 

With 6,191 units registered last year, the electric Chinese carmaker zips past BMW, Mercedes-Benz, and Toyota, the latter of which places just behind it with 5,736 units.

The rest of the top 10 are as follows:

	Brand	Units registered (ADs only)	Units registered in 2023 (ADs only)	Per cent change
1	BYD (including Denza)*	6191	1416	+337 per cent
2	Toyota (including Lexus)	5736	3857	+49 per cent
3	BMW	5042	3379	+49 per cent
4	Mercedes-Benz	4887	3850	+27 per cent
5	Tesla	2384	940	+154 per cent
6	Hyundai	2052	1143	+80 per cent
7	Nissan	1518	1329	+14 per cent
8	Honda	1457	682	+114 per cent
9	Mazda	1258	1173	+7 per cent
10	Kia	1214	1074	+13 per cent

*BYD only started selling Denza cars in Q3 2024.

That BYD has managed to supersede a trio of heavyweights in the local scene is unprecedented on two fronts. This marks not only the first time that a Chinese carmaker has led the table; it’s also the first time that a purely electric brand has placed on top. 

And to be clear, BYD’s dominant 2024 is not to be understated.

Among the countless roadshows, a solid number of car launches (which included strategic reintroductions), and even the introduction of its luxury sub-brand Denza, precious few names could match its time in the spotlight through the year.

Playing to the local market is key too. Excluding Denza (as well as the 2025-launched Sealion 7), buyers could get their hands on every single passenger car model in the BYD lineup with a Category A COE in 2024.

Nonetheless, new cars shifted by parallel importers (PIs) also form a significant chunk of what you see on our roads. Consequently, the overall new car registrations for 2024 are just as valuable in helping to glean insights into the automotive scene for the year: 

	Brand	Overall units registered	Overall units registered in 2023	Per cent change
1	Toyota (including Lexus)	7876	7248	+9 per cent
2	BYD (including Denza*)	6191	1416	+337 per cent
3	Mercedes-Benz	5101	4317	+18 per cent
4	BMW	5071	3436	+48 per cent
5	Honda	3892	2631	+48 per cent
6	Tesla	2384	947	+152 per cent
7	Hyundai	2053	1143	+80 per cent
8	Nissan	1638	1336	+23 per cent
9	Mazda	1260	1176	+7 per cent
10	Kia	1214	1074	+13 per cent

*BYD only started selling Denza cars in Q3 2024. 

With parallel importers factored into the mix, Toyota takes the crown once again, with its overall registered units rising all the way up to 7,876 for the year. (This marks a difference of 2,140 units. Interestingly, if non-AD sold Toyotas were considered as their own brand, they would have still made the Top 10.)

Drilling down into these PI-sold units reveals that there was one specific type of car, and in one very specific sort of body style, that clearly saw strong demand through the year. Petrol-electric MPVs comprised 1,666 units — or a significant 77.9 per cent — of the total 2,140 for the year. 

While the Toyota Sienta Hybrid and Alphard/Vellfire Hybrid are also available via PIs, it’s perhaps safe to assume that the inescapable Noah Hybrid and Voxy Hybrid twins were pivotal in helping to keep pressure on the pedal for 2024’s numbers.

In similar fashion, Honda also saw its local presence boosted by parallel imports. With these taken into calculation, it rises all the way to 5th place, with 3,892 cars registered in 2024.

The 2,435 units that came from non-authorised dealers made up a good 62.5 per cent of its overall numbers (Honda is the only brand where PI sales surpassed the AD), helping to pull Honda above Tesla on the overall table.

Like Toyota, petrol-electric MPVs formed a good chunk of Honda’s PI registrations, and judging from the number of them we’ve seen on our roads, it seems that the Honda Stepwagon Hybrid is a prime example.

Debates may rage now around who exactly was the winner of 2024, but the numbers present a truth that cannot be disputed: putting competition aside, registrations increased across the board for every name that found a place in the top 10.

These ranged from slight upward nudges (Toyota, Mazda and Kia), to more significant increases (BMW, Honda and Hyundai), all the way up towards the massive 337 per cent leap managed by BYD. 

While COE prices were nowhere near the levels that we would have traditionally considered as ‘reasonable’ in 2024, they were also objectively lower than where they trended in 2023.

Last year saw the continuation of LTA’s ‘cut-and-fill’ approach — targeted at giving each quarter’s COE supply a slight boost — and 2025 should get yet another small boost too, as the 20,000 additional COEs announced last October gradually get injected into the total pool. 

Again, COE premiums are ultimately dictated by the interplay between demand and supply in the market — but the assurance that the latter will rise this year does at least offer some hope that car prices might settle at more palatable levels for buyers in the near future.

The rest of the top 25 for 2024

	Brand	Units registered	2023 stats	Per cent change
11	Porsche	642	595	+8 per cent
12	Volkswagen	640	515	+24 per cent
13	Audi	596	701	-15 per cent
14	Volvo	557	404	+38 per cent
15	MG	536	301	+78 per cent
16	Subaru	415	140	+196 per cent
17	Skoda	351	282	+24 per cent
18	Xpeng	336	N.A.	N.A.
19	GAC (Aion)	310	N.A.	N.A.
20	Mini	224	186	+20 per cent
21	Suzuki	220	431	-49 per cent
22	Peugeot	185	314	-41 per cent
23	Land Rover	171	178	-4 per cent
24	GWM (ORA)	147	54	+172 per cent
25	Polestar	140	101	+39 per cent

Unsurprisingly, however, it’s when we move down into the rest of the top 25 that the movements start to become more drastic — as a number of entirely new names peek their heads into the frame. 

1) New names in the top 25: All-electric, all Chinese

And to be more precise, that number stands at three — with Xpeng leading the charge at 18th, followed by GAC (with Aion) at 19th, and finally, GWM (with ORA) at 23rd.

Xpeng’s presence is perhaps the most noteworthy. For starters, registrations began only in July, meaning the numbers technically only reflect half a year’s worth of sales for the brand. Secondly, the brand has managed all of its firepower with only one model (offered in two variants) — the Xpeng G6 — in its lineup. 

GAC’s 19th-place finish with Aion is praiseworthy too, considering that it’s managed to leap above far more established names in the local space such as Mini, Suzuki and Land Rover in the process.

Its success suggests that buyers will bite when a car is priced competitively with solid mechanical underpinnings to boot. The Aion Y Plus remains one of the cheapest EVs on the market, and is chock full of features one would previously have not dared to dream of at its price point.

Finally, just outside the top 25 is a name that picked up steam as 2024 came to a close.

Chery’s Omoda — which still only has the E5 electric SUV on sale in Singapore — saw a good 113 units registered through 2024, with December (25 units) marking its best month on record yet.

Like many other Chinese players, Chery appears to have played its cards right with the market with the recent reintroduction of the E5 with a fresh, Category A-eligible powertrain. 

2) Who’s departed then?

The three new names can also only mean three departures from the top 25 too.

With registrations declining in 2024, two of Stellantis Group’s mass-market names — Citroen and Opel (both coincidentally from the defunct PSA Group) — find themselves sliding out of the ranks, with just 79 and 40 units registered for the year respectively.

Amidst competitively-priced and flashier showings from the Chinese, it’s likely that the ageing product lines from both European brands have failed to resonate strongly with Singaporean buyers.

The remaining departing name, however, is absent for very different reasons.

Against its 97 units registered in 2023, Ferrari only put 19 new cars onto our roads in 2024, which logs as an 80 per cent year-on-year drop. As already mentioned in our H1 2024 analysis, supercar and super-luxury brands appear to have taken a strong hit from the new progressive taxes introduced as part of Budget 2023.

3) Those who ceded some ground

Like the top 10, the rest of the top 25 was noteworthy for seeing overall registrations increase year-on-year in 2024.

Bolstered by their electric cars, many names that have found steady mid-table footing in recent memory witnessed healthy growth.

These included the likes of Porsche, Volkswagen and Volvo — all of which saw new electric members join their families in 2024. Making larger strides still were MG (+78 per cent), and surprisingly, Subaru, whose registrations soared 195 per cent year-on-year.

It was against the overall surge, however, that the few dips — including Audi, Suzuki, Peugeot, and Land Rover — among the top 25 stood out more. Among them, Audi’s slightly lacklustre performance stands out the most, for the fact the brand was still placing in the top 10 just a few years ago. 

Still, the winds of change might blow strongly for the brand this year as it opens its House of Progress Singapore, and embarks on a broad model-offensive that will see both its combustion-powered and electric lineups expand significantly. 

All-electric registrations: 1 out of 3 new cars was fully electric in 2024

	Brand	Units	Per cent of units registered overall
1	BYD	3604	N.A.
2	Tesla	2384	N.A.
3	BMW	1636	32 per cent
4	Hyundai	708	34 per cent
5	MG	461	86 per cent
6	Mercedes-Benz	441	9 per cent
7	Xpeng	336	N.A.
8	Volvo	319	57 per cent
9	GAC	310	N.A.
10	Porsche	218	34 per cent
11	Volkswagen	190	30 per cent
12	GWM	147	N.A.
13	Polestar	140	N.A.
14	Audi	136	23 per cent
15	Mini	101	45 per cent

Yes — electrification is continuing to sink its roots into the market. In 2023, electric cars accounted for 18 per cent of the total new cars registered. In 2024, that figure jumped nearly two-fold, to stand at 33.6 per cent. 

A closer look at the numbers reveals how customers are taking to the all-electric product offerings from carmakers that first established themselves in the era of combustion power. 

As the vast majority of the names we’ve grown up with place increasing emphasis on EVs, so too do consumers seem to be warming to the idea of plugging in and charging up rather than refuelling — although you’ll notice that the results can be quite varied. 

MG and Volvo are notable for having their electric cars outsell their combustion-powered cars in 2024 — with the former owing a whopping 86 per cent of its registrations to fully-electric models like the 4 EV and ZS EV.

Mini’s huge push into the electric era with its new family also seems to be paying off; 101 of its 224 registrations were fully electric in 2024.

Meanwhile, EVs from established names in both the luxury and mass market arenas, including BMW, Porsche, Volkswagen and Hyundai, also seem to be enjoying healthy reception, contributing to close to a third of their new car sales for 2024.

Across the board, it appears that brands that have prioritised the move to EVs are reaping solid results. Likely also helping them is the fact that these electric models count themselves among the brands’ latest-generation products — which virtually offer customers the best and most up-to-date iterations of what they have to offer today. 

Among the top 15, however, the only name whose electric portfolio was vastly overshadowed by its combustion-powered models was Mercedes-Benz, whose 441 electric registrations made up a meagre nine per cent of its 2024 total.

While cars like the EQS SUV and EQS Sedan have undoubtedly made their mark as worthy flagships for the new electric era, it seems that the strength of the Three-Pointed Star in Singapore is still propped up mostly by crowd-favourites like the E-Class and GLC-Class, and of course, its Cat A-friendly offerings, such as the GLB180 and CLA180 — at least for now. 

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By: first published in sgCarMart.