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BMW I3 outselling Tesla

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Anton Wahlman of TheStreet has been a Tesla hater for quite some time. Just peruse his article history and you'll see that he sources from some of the worst of the SeekingAlpha perma-bear conspiracy theories.
 
It is true. In the USA the Leaf, Volt, plug in Prius and Ford C max have all outsold Tesla YTD. And if you look at last month another Ford and the I3 outsold Tesla. Year to date Tesla has only a 12% share of the plug in market. Monthly Plug-In Sales Scorecard

I'm more focused on their worldwide sales than just the US sales. And since Tesla is still selling every Model S they can produce, continue to expand their service centers and stores worldwide as well as the supercharger network, and are working towards producing their own batteries... Well, the author of that piece is no someone I would put much faith in.
 
It is true. In the USA the Leaf, Volt, plug in Prius and Ford C max have all outsold Tesla YTD. And if you look at last month another Ford and the I3 outsold Tesla. Year to date Tesla has only a 12% share of the plug in market. Monthly Plug-In Sales Scorecard

There are many things that are true but completely miss the mark. Tesla is production constrained. Perhaps you missed the part about Tesla having over 20,000 orders for a car they are not even building yet:Model X Tally - Page 120 If they could build them all and sell them last month, they would have blown those stats out of the water. Even with the only car they car they are building now, they are production and battery constrained. If you order one, it takes about 3 to 4 months to get it. They are selling them must faster than they can build them! I know having recently ordered one and having to wait months. Whereas, I could have choose from a selection of new Leafs off a number of different dealer's lots. That's why Tesla just announced the $6B gigafactory and are also expanding production. So, please, saying it's "true" means nothing. It's also true that I could be eaten by an alligator. Highly unlikely, but true.
 
If you look at 3 price points: A 22K, B 34K and C 65K

A is in a category where models sell 200,000 - 400,000 units per year ( Corollas, Civics, Altimas, Escapes, Camrys, Fusions )
B is around 70000 - 150000 units per year ( BMW 3 series, Toyota Avalon, Nissan Maxima, etc )
and C is 20000 - 30000 units per year. ( BMW 5 and 7 series, Lexus, Audi, Cadillac variations )

A should be about 5x of B which should be about 5x of C.

The fact that the Leaf doesn't outsell the Model S by 10 or 20 to 1 is abnormal.
If the i3 doesn't outsell the Model S by 4 or 5 to 1, that is also abnormal.

The average selling price of a car in the US is around 31K. The number of people who can afford a 65k+ car is very limited.
 
While it is true this article is cherry picking by using August numbers for the US market, which are lower due to factory shutdown and European numbers for July which are lower due to Tesla emptying the pipe just before the end of the second quarter there, and not mentioning new markets opening this quarter like Japan, overall it is true that this quarter is not going to be one you'd typically associate with high growth companies. Guided growth in the last shareholder's letter is nearly flat, and with the troubles in starting up the new line as evidenced by delayed deliveries for this month and next it is clear even meeting that guidance is going to be a scramble. September US deliveries need to be very strong and Tesla is already laying the ground work for that by pulling forward a significant number of deliveries from October.