Tesla also continued to make inroads in its quest to dominate the luxury market. Only three luxury brands — BMW, Lexus and Mercedes-Benz — had more of their vehicles registered in the U.S. through August than Tesla.
And the EV maker appeared poised to soon overtake Mercedes for the No. 3 spot. Through August, 194,165 Tesla vehicles were registered in the U.S., just 4,538 fewer than the number of Mercedes-Benz registrations.
At the same point last year, Tesla trailed Mercedes by more than 58,000 vehicles — and also found itself just behind Audi in the luxury ranks. Through eight months this year, Audi trailed Tesla by 34,722 registrations.
Registration data provides the most accurate view into Tesla’s U.S. sales and market share because the automaker reports quarterly sales on a global basis only.
The Chevrolet Bolt EV was the top non-Tesla electric vehicle by year-to-date registrations, with 22,799 through the first eight months of 2021. The Ford Mustang Mach-E and Volkswagen ID4 crossovers — two new entrants to the market — rounded out the top five, with 15,938 registrations for the Mach-E and 10,685 for the ID4.
