Yep, Tesla Is Gobbling USA Luxury Car Market — 8 Charts & Graphs

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Tesla increased its deliveries by more than 100% in the third quarter compared to the second quarter, its previous best quarter in history. In 6 years, its Q3 sales jumped from 321 to 83,500.

Its sales come at the expense of cars all over the map. However, the classes it is most directly competing in are the relevant luxury classes.

Tesla’s continued growth is surely coming at the expense of those other luxury cars. The following charts demonstrate just how much Tesla must be demonizing leading luxury brands like Mercedes, BMW, Audi, Acura, and Lexus. Enjoy, and share with friends.

Requisite note: These figures are estimates. We don’t know exactly how many units Tesla sold of each model in the US versus other countries. We also don’t know exactly how sales split out between the three months of the quarter.

Update: There were mistakes with a few of the charts and tables — totals were too high due to Model S and X estimates being too high. Those charts and tables have been updated, but the narrative remains unchanged.

Luxury Car Brand September 2018 USA Sales Segment Share
Acura Cars 3,169 4%
Audi Cars 7,873 10%
BMW Cars 16,737 21%
Infiniti Cars 3,284 4%
Lexus Cars 8,537 11%
Mercedes-Benz Cars 12,163 15%
Tesla Cars (est.) 27,440 35%
TOTAL 79,203 100%

That first two charts and table are for all cars (not SUVs and trucks) from the included luxury brands. In the case of Tesla, that means the Model 3 and Model S, but not the Model X. For each of the other brands, it means several models. We’ll dive into them further in subsequent charts and tables.

Model(s) September 2018 USA Sales
Tesla Model 3 24,040
BMW 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 Series 10,889
Audi A3 + A4 + A5 + A6 7,578
Mercedes C/CLA/CLS/E-Class 11,131
Lexus ES + GS + IS + RC 7,713
Infiniti Q50 + Q60 + Q70 3,284
Volvo 60 + 90 1,715
Acura RLX + TLX 2,228
Lincoln Continental + MKZ 2,543
Genesis G80 1,201
TOTAL 72,322

I think the above chart and table provide the most appropriate way to compare the Model 3 with its competitors. Tesla doesn’t offer multiple models of a similar size and prize, whereas the other brands do. More or less, all of those models are the models the Model 3 is competing against, so I think it makes sense to combine them for each brand for a comparison with the Model 3.

That said, there’s something special about looking at Model 3 sales in comparison with each individual model in its class. It definitely does not look like it belongs on that chart.

However, my favorite chart of all is probably the following chart. You can click through month to month and see how Tesla’s Model 3 sales grow and shift as the year goes one. Of course, the September finale is an exquisite sight to see.

Now we get to another boring pie chart, which is simply another way of viewing the fourth chart from the top:

And now we get to another favorite of mine. In the graph below, we again see the progression in Model 3 sales (deliveries) from January through September of this year, but in line graph form. The fun part — aside from the swift rise — is how it just soars above the somewhat steady but eventually unnoticeable pile of 9 other “top luxury cars.”

This last chart is perhaps not as exciting as the others, but it gets to the heart of the competition. It shows all Tesla sales in September (Model 3, Model S, and Model X) versus the sales of other brands. Given that Tesla is in existence in order to hasten the transition to clean and sustainable energy, the higher Tesla goes on that chart, the better.

Oh, wait, Tesla is already #1! So, the longer that bar gets compared to the others, the better — at least until these other companies are more seriously producing and selling zero-emissions electric vehicles.

Brand September 2018 USA Sales Segment Share
Acura 13,511 8%
Audi 19,350 12%
BMW 25,908 16%
Infiniti 12,536 8%
Jaguar Land Rover 9,006 6%
Lexus 24,597 15%
Mercedes-Benz 26,169 16%
Tesla (est.) 29,740 18%
TOTAL 160,817 100%

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How anyone thinks or pretends to think that Tesla can’t build cars or can’t mass produce cars at this point is beyond me. It’s the top selling luxury vehicle brand in the United States. if it can’t produce cars, neither can Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Lexus, Audi, Acura, Infiniti, or Jaguar Land Rover.

Related Stories:

10 – 1

Perspective, yo

Tesla Crushes Quarterly Delivery Record With 83,500 Deliveries In Q3

#1 Tesla Model S Dominating Large Luxury Car Sales In USA


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Zachary Shahan

Zach is tryin' to help society help itself one word at a time. He spends most of his time here on CleanTechnica as its director, chief editor, and CEO. Zach is recognized globally as an electric vehicle, solar energy, and energy storage expert. He has presented about cleantech at conferences in India, the UAE, Ukraine, Poland, Germany, the Netherlands, the USA, Canada, and Curaçao. Zach has long-term investments in Tesla [TSLA], NIO [NIO], Xpeng [XPEV], Ford [F], ChargePoint [CHPT], Amazon [AMZN], Piedmont Lithium [PLL], Lithium Americas [LAC], Albemarle Corporation [ALB], Nouveau Monde Graphite [NMGRF], Talon Metals [TLOFF], Arclight Clean Transition Corp [ACTC], and Starbucks [SBUX]. But he does not offer (explicitly or implicitly) investment advice of any sort.

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