Following Tesla’s record quarter, the market is trying to understand Tesla’s achievement with different comparisons.

One of the most important ones might be that Tesla outsold Mercedes-Benz in the US last quarter, according to a report.

Tesla doesn’t break down sales per market, but we know that the vast majority of its Model 3 sales are going to the US for now and we can get a pretty close estimate.

Atherton Research estimates that Tesla sold 69,925 Model 3, S and X vehicles in the US last quarter out of the 83,000 vehicles it delivered worldwide.

In comparison, Mercedes-Benz sold 66,542 passenger vehicles, excluding commercial vans (Freightliner, Metris, and Sprinter), in the US during the same period.

It means that Tesla might have comfortably outsold the German automaker, which has for a long time been seen as the leader in the premium segments.

That said, it was surpassed in the last quarter by BMW, which sold 71,679 vehicles in the US last quarter.

Atherton Research believes that Tesla is on pace to outsell both Mercedes-Benz and BMW in passenger vehicles in the US during the fourth quarter of 2018.

Electrek’s Take

If you are trying to understand Tesla’s impact after the Model 3 production ramp, this is one of the most interesting data points.

They are outselling Mercedes-Benz with only 3 options in the premium segment.

That has already happened in markets like Norway, where EV sales are outpacing gas-powered car sales, but the fact that it can already happen in a much bigger market like in the US is truly impressive.

Now we can try to imagine what will happen when Tesla will launch the base $35,000 version of the Model 3 later this year and then expand Model 3 deliveries to international markets.

The same situation could potentially repeat itself where Tesla could outsell long-established legacy automakers.

While it has managed to force a few automakers to accelerate their own EV programs, Tesla is often seen as a joke in the industry because it doesn’t produce that many vehicles and it is not turning a profit.

I think we could see that change in the next three months. Tesla is now technically producing vehicles at an annualized pace of 320,000 vehicles and it could potentially announce a profit at the next earnings.

Whatever impact Tesla had on the industry before, I think it could be greatly more important after that.

What do you think? Let us know in the comment section below.

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