Tesla dominates the battery electric-vehicle market in America
Jan 18, 2022
By Al Ries
According to Automotive News, the leading automotive trade magazine,
here are 2021 sales of the nine EV brands that compete with Tesla.
Total sales of the nine Tesla competitors: 151,064.
And here are Tesla’s total sales in 2021.
Tesla had 67 percent of the EV market and the other nine electric vehicle brands, in total, had only 33 percent.
On average, each of the nine brands had less than 4 percent market share,
compared with Tesla’s 67 percent.
Here are the number of dealerships of the nine competitive brands.
Total dealerships of Tesla’s nine competitors: 9,984 dealerships.
Tesla has only 160 stores. Its competitors have 62 times as many dealers.
In 2020, Tesla had 72 percent of the electric-vehicle market and its nine competitors,
in total, had only 28 percent.
Last year in 2021, Tesla had 67 percent of market and its competitors had 33 percent. Does that mean competition is catching up?
Not necessarily. Tesla increased its annual production for the U.S. electric-vehicle market in 2021 by 124,000 vehicles. Maybe that’s the best Tesla could do.
Ford, the largest-selling competitor, increased its annual production for 2021 by only 27,137 vehicles.
Why is Tesla so far ahead? Maybe it’s the way prospects file brand names in their minds?
Prospects don’t file brands in alphabetical order. Or in timely order. They file brand names in categories. And they often list them by reputation or sales. Here is a typical example of how one prospect might file some automobile brand names.
Most prospects file Tesla in “electric cars,” especially first-time electric-vehicle buyers, who don’t remember any electric-vehicle brands except Tesla.
But where do they file Chevrolet?
General Motors made a serious error by not giving its Chevrolet electric vehicle a different brand name. The same mistake being by almost every major automobile company in the world.
A new category demands a new brand name.