Tesla Motors Inc Model S Popular, But Sales Lags Nissan Leaf In U.S.

Updated on

Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) Model S sales were outnumbered by Nissan Leaf in the United States during the month of September. The much hype around Model S from Tesla did not help the company to topple Nissan from its position in terms of sales.

Tesla Model S behind Nissan and Chevy

For September, Tesla sold 1,650 Model S Sedan, a marginal rise from August, but down 15% from close to 2,000 units in the previous year, according to Motor Intelligence estimates. The EV manufacturer does not reveal its monthly sales.

Arch rival Nissan sold 2,881 Leafs in September, an increase of 47% from the previous year, but down 9.6% from August as per Motor Intelligence.  According to the numbers published by MarketWatch, Sales for Chevrolet’s Volt dropped 21% from the previous year, including 45% slip from August, selling 1,394 only Volts last month.

Volt sits on second spot in terms of sales. Taking full nine months into the consideration, Nissan has sold approximately 22,000 Leafs, General Motors shipped 14,500 Chevy Volts and Tesla sold around 12,250 Model S Sedans. Moreover, BMW has started selling its prestigious i3 electric car in May, and has sold 3,104 vehicles since then.

Are customers waiting for Model X?

Elon Musk’s Tesla does belong to a niche category as pure electric cars contribute just 1% of the total United States car sales. Model S comes with a price tag of $75,000 whereas Nissan has priced its Leaf at just $30,000, and one can own a Volt by shelling out just $35,000.

The Palo Alto Company is trying to bring down its cost by building a massive Gigafactory in Northern Nevada, aiming to produce battery at lower cost thus lowering the price for cars. Additionally, Tesla has also announced the Model X, a SUV that would be launched next year, and an entry-level Model 3 to be launched in the next two to three years. Recently, there have been much discussion going around Musk’s tweet where he mentioned about “the D and something else” to be launched on October 9th in Los Angeles.

Analysts have already made their estimates over the probable launch date of Model X, which could be a probable reason of drop in sales of Model S as the customers are awaiting the new SUV from the company.

Tesla has gained 70% this year compared to approximately 6.5% gain for the S&P 500.

Leave a Comment