From the Silicon Valley Business Journal
Palo Alto-based Tesla this week released internal sales numbers and competitive data that claim the company’s Model S outsold every other car in the large luxury sedan market in the U.S. in the third quarter.
The sales chart, published by Bloomberg, shows the company sold 9,156 Tesla Model S’s in the third quarter, a 59 percent jump over the car’s sales figures during the same time period last year.
Tesla compared the sales performance of the Model S against 11 other car models.
Tesla estimates there were a total of 28,856 cars in the large luxury sedan market sold in the U.S. in the third quarter, meaning the Model S captured 32 percent of the market.
Notably, Tesla compared the sales performance of the Model S against 11 other car models, made by Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Maserati, Audi, Lexus, Porsche andJaguar. They did not benchmark against sales of large luxury sedans made by Cadillac, Kia, Acura, Hyundai, Lincoln, Volvo, and other cars the Model S is commonly compared to.
That said, the internal report is notable for understanding who Tesla compares itself to, and how they feel they’re doing in the market.
Its closest competitor on the list, the Mercedes-Benz S-Class, has a starting price of $96,600 and sold 4,921 cars in the third quarter. That’s followed by the BMW 7-Series (starting price of $81,500), which sold 3,634 cars in the third quarter, Tesla says.
The Model S has a lower starting price of $66,000 before a package of incentives that places in the actual cost of the car’s base model in the $50,000 to $60,000 range.
For their part, Mercedes-Benz, BMW and virtually every other luxury carmaker is designing, or currently selling, electric or hybrid versions of their cars.
A cheap Tesla
Tesla hopes to extend its market share with the late 2017 launch of the Model 3, an all-electric sedan that starts at $35,000 before incentives. Earlier this year, the company said more than 373,000 people had already preordered the car.
