Elon Musk’s electric car company Tesla is crushing its competition and has just scored a major victory for American automakers.
Tesla, the world’s largest automaker by market cap, has just become the first American car company in years to sell the most luxury vehicles in the United States.
Tesla knocked German company BMW off the top spot to claim the title of the leading luxury car brand in the U.S. for 2022.
This is the first time an American automaker has held this title in 28 years.
The category has been dominated by foreign imports for decades.
According to the Automotive News Research & Data Center, Tesla sales skyrocketed in 2022 up 56% from 2021.
The electric vehicle maker sold more than 491,000 cars in the U.S. alone last year.
That is 158,612 more than BMW which sold 332,388 cars in the U.S. during the same time period.
BMW’s sales were down 1.3% from 2022.
However, Tesla was able to put America back on top, despite overall sales in the U.S. luxury segment dropping by 8%.
J.D. Power’s analyst Tyson Jominy said: “Not only do luxury buyers want EVs, but the one that only sells EVs is now the sales leader.
“If you want to be at the top of the luxury segment, you’ve got to beat Tesla, and you’ve got to do it with EVs.”
Great work by Tesla Team!
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 11, 2023
Mercedes-Benz came in third place at 286,764 sales.
Lexus was next with 258,704. Audi was next with 186,875 sales.
Cadillac had 134,726 sales. Acura had 102,306 sales and Volvo finished with 102,038 sales.
Musk said:
“Great work by Tesla Team!”
According to Driveteslaca:
With the strong year, Tesla has now been able to secure two-thirds of the EV market share in the US, according to registration data from Experian.
To give an idea of how much of a commanding lead that is, Tesla’s market share is more than the rest of the entire industry combined.
According to Jalopnik:
Tesla didn’t just beat BMW. It put on a Georgia vs. TCU in the College Football Playoff Championship drubbing of its rival.
Tesla sold 158,612 more vehicles than BMW did in 2022, according to Automotive News’s Research & Data Center.
It’s a big come up from being down 23,244 vehicles to BMW in 2021.
So, all in all, Tesla sold an estimated 491,000 vehicles in 2022.
That was followed by BMW at 332,388 vehicles.
After that was Mercedes-Benz with 286,764 vehicles, Lexus with 285,704 vehicles, Audi with 186,875 vehicles, Cadillac with 134,726 vehicles, Acura with 102,306, and rounding out the top eight was Volvo with 102,038 vehicles sold.
Overall, luxury vehicle sales dipped in 2022, and the broader market also declined about eight percent, according to the outlet.
That 491,000 vehicles sold by Tesla represents a 44 percent increase in sales over the year before.
AutoNews also reports that the automaker crossed 1 million deliveries globally.
