RISE OF THE TESLA MODEL 3
FIRST, it was America’s best-selling electric car. Then it became the best-selling luxury car. Now, against the odds, Tesla Inc.’s Model 3 is becoming one of the bestselling sedans in the United States, period. Automakers, on Tuesday, reported monthly and quarterly sales totals. For the three months that ended in September, Tesla delivered more Model 3s than all but four of the top sedans sold in the US, regardless of size or price.
It is an imperfect ranking because Tesla did not break out sales by country, and the Model 3 tally included some deliveries to customers in Canada. And the climb comes at a time when Americans prefer crossovers, sports utility vechiles and trucks. Nonetheless, the thirdquarter showing was unprecedented for an electric car and a remarkable turnabout for Tesla, which struggled for much of the last year to mass-produce the sedan.
Tesla’s competitors are feeling it. Sales of the Mercedes-Benz C-Class, the best-selling luxury sedan in the US, plunged 24 per cent last month and are down 28 per cent for the year through September.
BMW AG’s namesake brand barely managed to eke out an increase last month, on the strength of its X3 crossover.
“Tesla is ramping up its volumes, and it is putting pressure on that market segment,” BMW North America chief executive officer Bernhard Kuhnt said of the luxury sedan space on Tuesday.
“In that environment, I’m pleased to say we were up.”
BMW unveiled a revamped version of its 3 Series sedan at the recent Paris auto show. Its next battery-electric vehicle, the iX3, won’t be ready until 2020. By then, Daimler AG’s MercedesBenz and Volkswagen AG’s Audi and Porsche brands should have a slate of electric contenders. Jaguar plans to start delivering its electric I-Pace to US customers next month.
It is unclear if any of these offerings will have enough appeal to give internal combustion engine cars a run for their money.
For now, Tesla is the first and only electric car to break into the ranks that are dominated by Japanese and Korean carmakers. And it is doing so at a higher price than other mass-market cars. The most expensive versions of the Model 3 are currently the most popular, with an average selling price approaching US$60,000 (RM249,000).
Tesla says cheaper versions starting at US$35,000 - designed to appeal to a wider group of buyers may be coming around the end of the year.