Despite the continuing decline of the luxury goods market in the United States, car sales data from January to May 2022 evidence Tesla increasing sales by 66 percent and overtaking BMW and Mercedes-Benz in the luxury car segment.
The automaker, whose electric vehicles admittedly stretch the classic definition of luxury, has moved 179,574 cars in the period mentioned above, as evidenced by the new license registrations. It then proceeded to hit an all-time high production rate in June, but June data did not make it into the study.
BMW trailed Tesla with 133,209 sold units and an 11% fall, while Lexus rounded off the trio of leaders with 112,296 units and a 19% decline. Mercedes-Benz came fourth with 110,584 units and -17% year-to-year.
Audi took the crisis worse with a 35% plunge to just 67,086 cars. If we were to count exclusively the EVs, however, it would have come second after Tesla with 6,617 units sold. If we were to combine the sales of the entire Hyundai-Kia consortium, including the premium Genesis brand, it would occupy the second place instead of Audi with 27,746 units sold.
The Model 3 and Model Y were on top of the EV popularity list, with the Ford Mustang Mach-E scoring an unexpected third place with 15,491 SUVs sold.