For years, BMW has been the luxury sales leader in the U.S. However, that crown was just stolen—quite easily—by Tesla. According to Automotive News‘ Research and Data Center (h/t to Jalopnik), Tesla delivered 491,000 cars in the U.S., compared to 332,388 BMWs delivered. So quite the drubbing of BMW by Tesla. But what does that say about EVs, luxury cars, and what premium buyers want?
It’s an interesting thing to see Tesla outsell BMW in the ‘States, as Jalopnik pointed out that it’s the first time in nearly 25 years that an American brand led U.S. luxury sales. The Germans and Japanese have been on top of U.S. luxury sales for a very long time, so why the sudden shift?
It’s possible that electrification is the key. According to J.D. Power’s vice president of data and analytics, Tyson Jominy: “”Not only do luxury buyers want EVs, but the one that only sells EV is now the sales leader.”
If buyers looking to spend big bucks want EVs, then it makes sense the brand that sells the most EVs is going to sell the most cars. BMW only sells two purely electric cars; the iX and i4. While both good cars, neither are particularly attractive, which can’t help BMW’s cause. Teslas aren’t beauty pageant winners either but they lack the funky front “grilles” of the Bimmers. Another advantage Tesla has is cost. The majority of Tesla sales come from the Model 3, which can be had for less than the BMW i4. Tesla also has the Model Y, a compact crossover, something that BMW doesn’t have (we mentioned several times to BMW that we believe the iX3 and iX1 would sell well here). So when you see that the premium market is looking for more EVs than ever before, it’s easy to see why Tesla outsold BMW. Tesla just offers more EVs, at more affordable prices, than BMW does.
What does that say about premium cars? Well, I struggle to call Teslas premium. They come with premium price tags and their powertrains are impressive but there’s nothing else about a Tesla that says “premium.” Is that subjective? Perhaps. However, I challenge anyone to sit in any Tesla after sitting…
