We received great news about electric vehicles this week in the United States – the Chevy Bolt EV had a record first quarter, the Audi e-tron had a record fourth, the Ford Mustang Mach-E arrived with a bang and the USA – the EV giant Tesla had a record quarter.
As I’ve been covering for the past few days, it’s exciting to see several electric vehicles from vintage car makers reaching record numbers in the US, but we don’t have a high-volume EV yet that displaces as many gas vehicles – or anywhere close to as many – as Tesla Model 3 or Model Y.
Inverting the top bar graph, you can see the steep sales ladder that these models or other electric models in the U.S. need to climb to reach or approach the levels of the Tesla Model 3 and Model Y.
The Audi e-tron (both body options), Ford Mustang Mach-E and Chevy Bolt EV together had about 20,000 sales in the first quarter of the year, less than the Model 3 alone, and less than a month of Honda sales Civic.
In terms of fun models and public relations excitement, the US electric vehicle market is booming. It looks like a big impulse is building. But the numbers in the field are weak, disappointing.
Many people are upset that Tesla receives so much press and has such enthusiastic fans (some may say “loud and unpleasant” or “toxic”), but there is something going on that goes far beyond hardcore fandom. Tesla is doing something (or several things) right that other automakers are not doing. Most Tesla owners I know do not follow Elon Musk on Twitter, do not appear as super fans, and often do not know some recent news about the company. But they know they love their Teslas, they appreciate Tesla’s Supercharger network and they like Tesla’s infotainment package. They also know, considering they have Teslas, that the sales process is super easy, clear and painless – no despicable or financial salesperson to work with, no need to freshen up on the fine art of bargaining (an art that most of us abhor).
I don’t know what are the main factors that drive so many Americans to buy Teslas, but not other electric vehicles. I know my reasons, I know the reasons why readers have provided us in the past, and I know what my guesses are. But I don’t really know how much each factor leads to a Tesla sale compared to the sale of another EV. What I do know is what is obvious to anyone looking at these charts: other automakers need to intensify this. If they want to get Tesla’s press and prestige, they need to show that they are exciting customers, producing in large volumes and effectively trying to stimulate and satisfy consumer demand for a powertrain transition. Until they begin to approach the figures that Model 3 and Model Y are seeing, it is difficult for anyone to take their efforts too seriously – or so seriously – and difficult to defend serious and pure efforts that they apparently cannot attract or satisfy the same levels of consumer demand.
There is nothing I would like to see more in this industry than more than 10 electric models running neck and neck with the Tesla Model 3 and Tesla Model Y.
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