We will start by saying that many people, including those in the Tesla team, do not consider their cars to be luxury vehicles, but that is not the point here.
Tesla calls its cars ‘premium’ because they are more expensive than most competing vehicles and probably more ‘premium’ than many ordinary, non-luxury cars. Nevertheless, Tesla’s cars in the luxury category are bound by car review sites, as well as almost all cars’ rankings and awards.
Despite the fact that Tesla’s cars are not nearly as comfortable inside as cars manufactured by German luxury brands, Tesla is making big waves in the segment on our shores. In fact, Tesla has just surpassed Audi as the fourth largest luxury car brand in the US based on registration data for 2020. While Tesla still stands behind the top three luxury car manufacturers in the United States, it does not have to go too far to beat its competitors to pick up.
Tesla registered about 200,500 cars in the US by 2020. Meanwhile, Audi has registered about 183,600. In 2019, Audi registered nearly 50,000 more vehicles in the US than Tesla.
The top three luxury car manufacturers in the US by 2020 are BMW, Lexus and Mercedes-Benz, in that order. According to details of Experian’s Automotive News Research & Data Center, shared by Motor News, 2020 luxury vehicle registration data for the top five luxury brands in the US, is as follows:
- BMW: 287,259
- Lexus: 271,384
- Mercedes-Benz *: 265 600
- Tesla: 200 561
- Audi: 183,594
* Automotive News points out that Sprinter and Metris data are excluded from the above registrations.
Motor News points out that the fact that Tesla is only 65,000 registrations behind Mercedes-Benz is quite compelling. This is especially true because Tesla only sells EVs. These other companies have the advantage of including cars with gas in the registration data. Eexecutive analyst for Auto Dealer tell Motor News:
“Tesla first started working on EVs; it really was the only game in town. Innovation and technology and sophistication are a winning combination.”
Whether you believe Tesla deserves to be called a luxury carmaker does not matter. The fact that the relatively new, American-based electric car manufacturer is getting steam at legendary legacy car manufacturers is compelling.