
I recently wrote about Tesla model leadership — and other EV model leadership — in California. The article included 8 original charts I recommend looking at. However, that report was just about the models. Let’s also look at how Tesla, a 100% electric brand, performed in California compared to other auto companies in the 4th quarter of 2021 and all of 2021.
First of all, as the headline states, Tesla accounted for 10.5% of all auto sales in the Golden State in the 4th quarter of 2021, up from 4.8% in the 4th quarter of 2020. It went from 21,290 registrations in Q4 2020 to 39,040 registrations in Q4 2021.
The only auto brand that had more sales in California in the 4th quarter of 2021 was Toyota (16.3% market share).
For the year as a whole, Tesla’s market share was 6.5% in 2021, up from 4.4% in 2020. That was due to 121,080 registrations rather than 71,390. Across 2021, Tesla’s market share only trailed Toyota (18.1%), Honda (10.8%), Ford (7.9%), and Chevy (6.6%). Clearly, the trends imply Tesla could be the 2nd best selling auto brand in the state in 2022. We’ll wait and see.

Table courtesy of CNCDA.
That’s the big picture view of where things stood in 2021 and in the 4th quarter of 2021. How about the change in brand popularity across the market? It turns out Tesla didn’t have the biggest brand growth on a percentage basis — Genesis did — but it was a strong #2 ahead of #3 Porsche. Here’s a chart (on the left) covering that topic, as well as one (on the right) showing 2021 market share by brand:

Charts courtesy of CNCDA.
Didn’t click through to the story about model leaders in California yet? I still recommend doing so, but here are the Tesla-related charts from that article as a teaser or as a reminder of the fun that’s happening over here:
Any additional thoughts?
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