Tesla becomes top luxury auto brand in the US

Tesla has become the top luxury brand in the US automotive market – the first time an American automaker claims the title.

For a few years now, Tesla vehicles have dominated many luxury segments in sales in the United States.

However, due to the limited number of models available, four to be exact, other automakers could still be top sellers overs – meaning that Tesla models are often best-selling in their own segments, but Tesla as an overall brand is not.

Foreign automakers, especially German automakers like Audi, Mercedes-Benz, and BMW, have historically been dominant.

But with recent increases in production capacity, Tesla is now delivering more volume in the United States even with just four models.

Now Tesla has taken the top luxury automotive position for the first time in the United States and, according to Automotive News, it’s the first time in almost 25 years that the position has been held by an American automaker.

Tesla doesn’t break down sales per market, and therefore, we have to use registration data and estimates.

The data is not perfect, but everything points to a massive beat by Tesla in 2022.

Here are the top eight best-selling luxury brands in the United States in 2022:

1. Tesla: 491,000
2. BMW: 332,388
3. Mercedes-Benz: 286,764
4. Lexus: 258,704
5. Audi: 186,875
6. Cadillac: 134,726
7. Acura: 102,306
8. Volvo:  102,038

In 2021, BMW had beaten Tesla by about 23,000 units based on estimates.

Now it appears that Tesla is the leader by easily 100,000 vehicles, thanks a significant production ramp last year.

Electrek’s Take

It’s good to see an all-electric automaker taking the position for the first time. It’s also special that it’s an American automaker for the first time in a quarter of a century in the US market.

Interestingly, I often meet people who don’t even realize that Tesla is an American automaker, even though it’s arguably the most American automaker based on the percentage of American parts in Tesla’s vehicles.

Now, of course, that’s just the luxury segment, but I think the days where the top overall automakers are all-electric ones are coming sooner than most people think.