In January, Tesla Inc. lead U.S. luxury market sales, lapping segment leader BMW in new vehicle registration, finds Experian data.
Tesla’s registrations rose 49% to 37,162 vehicles, compared to January 2021, Experian reported. In contrast, BMW registrations rose 8.2% to 30,563.
Other competitors in the luxury market saw decreases. Lexus registrations fell 5.5% to 24,843 in January, while Mercedes-Benz registrations plummeted 20% to 22,022, Experian noted.
The EV company, owned by Elon Musk, narrowly lost to BMW for vehicle registrations in 2021. BMW had 347,453 registrations last year, compared to 342,412 for Tesla. Even so, Experian data showed that Tesla had greater momentum, with a 71% sales gain compared to a 24% gain for BMW in 2021.
Registration data includes all models from the luxury automakers, including gasoline-powered vehicles, hybrids and full-electrics.
Tesla has a new Texas plant coming on line that will help it satisfy demand for its electric vehicles and is pushing output to up to 600,000 vehicles at its Fremont, California, plant in 2022.
Tesla's official sales numbers in 2021 showed an 87% increase globally to 936,172 vehicles. The company forecasts at least a 50% increase this year to push deliveries to 1.4 million.
Tesla also has a new factory coming on line in Berlin in 2022 to support vehicle production.
Experian reported that the Tesla Model Y was the top EV in the U.S. at 18,549 registrations, followed by the Tesla Model 3 with 13,604 and the Tesla Model S with 3,903.
The Ford Mustang Mach-E with 2,781 registrations took 4th place, the Nissan Leaf at 1,479 took 5th, and the Hyundai Ioniq 5 at 1,253 registrations held the 6th spot.
Volkswagen's ID4 was No. 7 with 1,153 registrations, followed by the Kia Niro electric at 1,146, the Tesla Model X with 1,106 and the Porsche Taycan in 10th with with 972 registrations.
According to Experian, total U.S. EV registrations rose by 62% in January to 50,384 compared to 31,174 a year earlier. The U.S. light-vehicle market grabbed 4.3% of the total U.S. market in January, compared with 2.3% in 2021.
