Tesla overtakes BMW as top luxury car brand in US, report says

Tesla has reportedly overtaken BMW to become the top luxury car brand in the US for 2022, becoming the first American vehicle manufacturer in 25 years to hold the title.

Tesla sold over 491,000 cars in the US in 2022 compared to BMW that sold close to 332,400 cars during the period, according to estimates by the Automotive News Research & Data Center.

The American electric vehicle maker’s sales last year was more than 56 per cent of what it could sell in 2021, according to the report.

In 2021, BMW had beaten Tesla by about 23,000 units, but the German car brand’s sales were down by 1.3 per cent last year.

Other luxury car brands in the 2022 list by Automotive News included Mercedes-Benz which sold about 286,760 cars, followed by Lexus (258,704), Audi (186,875), Cadillac (134,726), Acura (102,306) and Volvo (102,038).

Tesla chief Elon Musk congratulated the company on its achievement.

“Great work by Tesla Team!,” Mr Musk tweeted.

Tesla set several company records in 2022, selling over 1.31 million vehicles across the globe and increasing production by 47 per cent compared to last year.

But Wall Street experts pointed out that the numbers fell short of Mr Musk’s pledge to grow sales by 50 per cent nearly every year.

The numbers still represent a record growth for the company in sales, a roughly 40 per cent increase in deliveries in the final quarter year on year.

“Thank you to all of our customers, employees, suppliers, shareholders and supporters who helped us achieve a great 2022 in light of significant Covid and supply chain-related challenges throughout the year,” Tesla said in a recent statement.

The EV maker said it would post the financial results for its 2022 final quarter and the full year on 25 January.

“Our net income and cash flow results will be announced along with the rest of our financial performance when we announce Q4 and full year 2022 earnings,” the company said.