Tesla Is Now America's Number One Premium Automotive Company | Hacker News Reader

Tesla Is Now America's Number One Premium Automotive Company

forbes.com

34 pointsdanhak19 comments

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...

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.

Competes with the Accord?

Certainly not in build quality.

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.

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.

>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?

>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?

Are you sarcastic?

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.

Where are you seeing that? ASP info I could can find shows 59k.

https://cleantechnica.com/2018/08/23/tesla-model-3-average-s...

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.

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?

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-....

Model 3 delivery is 100% North American though

S and X are sold worldwide, and the 3 is sold in Canada.

Citation needed for both of your claims. The latest I found is that the average Model 3 selling price is 60k, which would become 50k at best with tax credits. Right in line with your BMW number [1]

[1] https://insideevs.com/tesla-model-3-average-selling-price-hi...

I went on the Tesla website and configured one for $44k just now. It only takes a few seconds. This doesn’t include the rebates or gas savings either.

Your data is out of date. On tesla.com it is impossible to configure a non-performance version of the car which comes anywhere near $60K. They stopped selling "full self driving" and there have been other pricing tweaks, including a $44K version. See Troy's Teslike spreadsheet for a sample of the order breakdown among the super enthusiasts.

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