The only automotive manufacturer to report serious gains in unit sales during the 1st quarter of the year was Elon Musk’s Tesla. I know what you’re thinking, “Yeah, they grew, but they don’t do the volume of the ‘REAL’ car companies.”
Oh guess again mon frere.
Tesla was the #4 brand in volume sales during the 1st quarter of the year. According to data from the vehicle research site, GoodCarBadCar.net, the Tesla brand was only behind Toyota, Ford, and Chevy. Tesla outsold big names like Honda, Jeep, and Nissan.
The data is truly astounding. You see, Tesla delivered only 52,800 vehicles in Q1 of 2020. they improved to 66,000 vehicles in Q1 of 2021. Tesla then jumped a whopping 370% to 310,046 vehicles in Q1 of 2022. That is simply an exceptional number. Especially when you consider that total vehicle deliveries were down 12% in the United States in the first quarter of the year. Toyota, the number brand by volume, was down 16% in Q1. Ford, the number two brand, was down 17%. Chevy, the number 3 brand was down 26% in Q1.
In fact, the overall numbers for the industry are somewhat horrifying. And it’s not a lack of want or desire from buyers. The darn chip shortage and supply chain issues has caused havoc across all the manufacturers. In fact, the only manufacturers to show growth in the first quarter were:
- Mazda (3,474 more units)
- BMW (2,232 more units)
- Genesis (3,492 more units)
- TESLA (244,046 more units)
As a result of their unparalleled success in Q1, Tesla reported record revenues, record vehicle deliveries, and record profit with an operating margin of over 19%. The company reported $18.8 Billion in Q1 Revenues for an increase of 81% Year over Year (YOY).
So the big question is, how the heck did they do it when everyone else is hurting so badly? How did Tesla go from less than 2% of the American Automotive Marketshare to nearly 9% Marketshare? Folks, Chevy’s brand Marketshare sits at 9.85%. Ford is nearly 12%. And Toyota is at 12.5%. Is this Tesla’s new role as the 4th biggest brand? Will this be a one quarter wonder and their share will drop in Q2? Or will their sales continue to increase leading to double digit marketshare numbers later this year?
Only time will tell, but clearly, Tesla did something right to buck the trend hitting all the other “Old School” manufacturers.
What do you think of Tesla’s rise? Will this be a long term trend? Or will they collapse with the onslaught of all electric vehicles rapidly hitting the marketplace?
Q1 Sales by Automotive Brand
Source: GoodCarBadCar.net
