Tesla has managed to secure the best-selling car spot in Germany, a tough auto market known for preferring local brands.
Germany is an important auto market in Europe and one that is difficult to penetrate for foreign automakers because of the strong local industry with companies like Volkswagen, BMW, and Mercedes-Benz.
Tesla has made some good early efforts in the country, but it is now expected to do much better with a local factory producing German-made Tesla vehicles. Last year, Tesla delivered just short of 40,000 vehicles in Germany.
Surprisingly, a report came out last month that stated Tesla is aiming to increase sales in 2022 to 80,000 units. That would be extremely ambitious considering Tesla was just short of 25,000 deliveries as of August.
Now it looks like Tesla has some momentum to make it happen. The Federal Motor Transport Authority (KBA) reported today the vehicle sale numbers for September in Germany and Tesla had a record month.
The automaker delivered 9,848 Model Y vehicles, making the electric SUV the best-selling vehicle in the country, which is quite an achievement for a foreign automaker. Tesla has had best-selling cars in a few markets before, but getting one in Germany is certainly a noteworthy achievement.
It dethroned the VW Golf, which came in with just over 7,000 units in September.
The Tesla Model 3 also had a decent month with 3,878 vehicles delivered in September, based on registration data released by KBA.
Electrek’s Take
This would put Tesla just short of 39,000 deliveries so far in 2022. The automaker would need a massive fourth quarter to make that reported goal of 80,000 deliveries.
It sounds almost impossible, but Gigafactory Berlin could help significantly.
Tesla recently reported that production has ramped up to 2,000 Model Y vehicles per week. That number is expected to keep going up in Q4 and a significant percentage of those vehicles are going to stay in Germany.
The market is still getting Model 3 and Model Y vehicles from Gigafactory Shanghai, and it might even get some new Model S vehicles for the first time in a long time.
I’d still be surprised if Tesla can deliver 40,000 vehicles in Germany in Q4, but I think it’s possible with this kind of momentum.
Keyword: Tesla gets the best-selling car in Germany’s tough auto market