Based on the numbers, Tesla sales increased by 34% compared to January 2022.
Tesla has started the year strong, thanks in part to significant price cuts on its lineup of electric cars. According to Experian data from January 2023, the electric vehicle maker has registered nearly 50,000 new cars in the United States, a significant lead over BMW, which is second place occupied by about 31,000 cars.
Tesla leads luxury car sales
- Some may argue that Tesla is not a luxury car company because its cars are not as luxurious as those produced by BMW, Mercedes, Lexus, etc. However, due to its high prices and cutting-edge technologies, the American electric vehicle manufacturer has long been considered a luxury brand.
- Despite significant price cuts, Tesla's electric cars still sell for similar prices to their luxury counterparts.
- Tesla usually doesn't start the year off strong, instead focusing on increasing sales at the end of each quarter, with the biggest push towards the end of the year, however, starting the year with some of the biggest price cuts the brand has ever offered.
- Combined with the newly renewed $7,500 federal tax credit, this resulted in historic numbers for the world's most famous manufacturer of electric vehicles.
Tesla vehicle registrations in January 2023
Tesla received 49,917 new registrations in January 2023, according to Automotive News. Meanwhile, BMW had 31,070, Mercedes had 23,345, and Lexus had 23,082. Tesla sold 19,000 more cars in January than BMW and more than doubled the number of new registrations for Mercedes. and Lexus.
It's worth noting that electric vehicle sales aren't discussed here. Experian's numbers include all new cars registered for the entire month, regardless of powertrain, and when you compare Tesla's electric sales to those of competing luxury brands, the disparity becomes even starker. More on this in a minute.
Luxury car sales in America
According to the numbers, Tesla sales increased by 34% from January 2022 to January 2023. BMW, on the other hand, increased by only 2.5%. Mercedes increased its sales by 7.3% year-on-year, while Lexus sales decreased by 6.6%.
The Model Y SUV was Tesla's best-selling vehicle during the period, as expected given the $13,000 price drop for the new year. Approximately 29,000 of the 50,000 new Teslas registered in January 2023 were Model Ys, representing a 56% increase year-over-year. Annually, over the same time period, Model 3 registrations increased by 29% to 17,526 units sold.
America's electric vehicle market
According to Experian data, the total electric vehicle market increased by 74% in January 2023, bringing the total number of registrations to 87,708. Given that Tesla produced nearly 50,000 electric cars sold, this means that nearly 39,000 non-Tesla electric cars entered the market. market during the same month.
While this is encouraging, keep in mind that every mainstream luxury automaker sold fewer electric cars in a single month than Tesla did.