Tesla Still Has America’s No. 1 EV

Photo of Douglas A. McIntyre
By Douglas A. McIntyre Published

24/7 Wall St. Key Points

  • Despite a sharp decline in its U.S. sales in November, Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA) still has the best-selling electric vehicle (EV) model in the United States.

  • Yet even that model may be priced much too high for wide U.S. EV adoption.

This post may contain links from our sponsors and affiliates, and Flywheel Publishing may receive compensation for actions taken through them.
Tesla Still Has America’s No. 1 EV

© 2024 Getty Images / Getty Images News via Getty Images

Despite a 23% decline in its U.S. sales to 39,800 in November, Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA | TSLA Price Prediction) still has the best-selling electric vehicle (EV) model in the United States by far. According to Experian, the Model Y had 30% of all EV sales in the third quarter of this year. Tesla also has the number two spot with the Model 3, which had a 10% market share.

The data also show the small but steady market share gains by other car companies. The Chevy Equinox and the Hyundai IONIQ 5 each had about a 5% market share. No other EV model sold in the U.S. had a bigger market share. However, 10 models from various manufacturers have market shares of 2% or greater. That shows how fragmented the EV market is.

In November, EV sales nationwide fell 41% year over year. That makes the problems of legacy car companies, which have entered the market in the past five years, more dire than they have been since EVs became mainstream. They have tiny shares of a rapidly shrinking sector.

One conclusion to draw from the Cox data is that financial losses for EV companies are likely to remain high, even if these car companies slash their EV investments. Profits are years away.

The Model Y SUV is modestly priced by industry standards. Its entry rear-wheel-drive version has a manufacturer’s suggested retail price (MSRP) of $37,990. Tesla has said it may introduce a $25,000 sedan, which much of the industry thinks is the necessary price point for wide U.S. EV adoption. Nevertheless, Model Y’s price is well below the industry average EV price near $58,000.

If $25,000 is the price point for wide EV adoption, Tesla, and virtually all of its competition, are priced much too high.

Tesla Stock Price Prediction and Forecast 2025–2030

 

Photo of Douglas A. McIntyre
About the Author Douglas A. McIntyre →

Douglas A. McIntyre is the co-founder, chief executive officer and editor in chief of 24/7 Wall St. and 24/7 Tempo. He has held these jobs since 2006.

McIntyre has written thousands of articles for 24/7 Wall St. He is an expert on corporate finance, the automotive industry, media companies and international finance. He has edited articles on national demographics, sports, personal income and travel.

His work has been quoted or mentioned in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, NBC News, Time, The New Yorker, HuffPost USA Today, Business Insider, Yahoo, AOL, MarketWatch, The Atlantic, Bloomberg, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, Forbes, The Guardian and many other major publications. McIntyre has been a guest on CNBC, the BBC and television and radio stations across the country.

A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College, McIntyre also was president of The Harvard Advocate. Founded in 1866, the Advocate is the oldest college publication in the United States.

TheStreet.com, Comps.com and Edgar Online are some of the public companies for which McIntyre served on the board of directors. He was a Vicinity Corporation board member when the company was sold to Microsoft in 2002. He served on the audit committees of some of these companies.

McIntyre has been the CEO of FutureSource, a provider of trading terminals and news to commodities and futures traders. He was president of Switchboard, the online phone directory company. He served as chairman and CEO of On2 Technologies, the video compression company that provided video compression software for Adobe’s Flash. Google bought On2 in 2009.

Continue Reading

Top Gaining Stocks

CBOE Vol: 1,568,143
PSKY Vol: 12,285,993
STX Vol: 7,378,346
ORCL Vol: 26,317,675
DDOG Vol: 6,247,779

Top Losing Stocks

LKQ
LKQ Vol: 4,367,433
CLX Vol: 13,260,523
SYK Vol: 4,519,455
MHK Vol: 1,859,865
AMGN Vol: 3,818,618