
Tesla Is Now America's Number One Premium Automotive Company - danhak
https://www.forbes.com/sites/jeanbaptiste/2019/01/02/tesla-is-now-americas-number-one-premium-automotive-company-outsells-bmw-lexus-in-q4/#14c2254d4af3
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toomuchtodo
Title is inaccurate due to the Forbes article being inaccurate. Forbes
compares Tesla's worldwide sales with BMW's US sales.

[https://twitter.com/FredericLambert/status/10809989511956766...](https://twitter.com/FredericLambert/status/1080998951195676673)

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fl0wenol
That's great but this is being very generous because Tesla cuts across market
segments in a way that the other manufacturers don't per brand. This is by
total vehicles sold, not delivered, including the Model 3, which I would not
put on the same level as a MB C-Class, for example. It competes with Honda
Accord, not Honda Legend/Acura RLX.

If you were to split up the numbers by auto groups and then focus on sales of
comparable vehicles across brands, it would look very different.

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zamadatix
Competes with the Accord?

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Fins
Certainly not in build quality.

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throwaway98121
Why anyone would spend $40K plus on a vehicle baffles me, but that being said,
if the article is accurate, good on Tesla for being such a rival to the other
established brands against all odds.

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reustle
How does it baffle you? A vast majority of people in the US rely on their cars
daily. These people prioritize quality and moving away from gas/diesel.

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rcMgD2BwE72F
>A vast majority of people in the US rely on their cars daily

This keeps baffling me. Why don't we just build far denser cities?

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NullPrefix
>Why don't we just build far denser cities

This keeps baffling me. Why don't all people just start working remotely and
move to Thailand?

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rcMgD2BwE72F
Are you sarcastic?

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7e
BMW's average selling price is about $55K, but Tesla's Model 3 sold in the
high $30s to low $40s when the federal tax credit is included. States like
California offer additional discounts.

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7e
Further, the author compares Tesla's _global_ delivery numbers with other
manufacturers' US-only numbers, and doesn't explicitly mention that the
expiring tax credit temporarily pulled demand forward this quarter.

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jryle70
So maybe BMW is more profitable or pulls in more revenue than Tesla in the US,
or maybe not. Also, Model 3 has only been delivered to US and Canada's
customers, and only expanded to Europe very recently. But the point remains,
Tesla is "now America's Number One Premium Automotive Company"? Whether that
will be true next quarter remains to be seen. Not sure what you're trying to
dispute?

Also true that tax credit expiration played a part. Do you think BMW or Lexus
didn't have any promotion this past quarter?

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7e
Tesla doesn't release US-only numbers, so the article is factually incorrect,
and thus its conclusion is also incorrect.

See
[https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-01-04/contrary-...](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-01-04/contrary-
to-musk-s-tweet-tesla-isn-t-the-no-1-premium-carmaker).

