Shy sure spends a lot on factories.

It is amazing that Tesla still has this high of a market share in the USA. Tesla doesn’t have this much market share in Europe… American (and Japanese) automakers have really dropped the ball with EVs.

Cars are expensive and high interest rates damage sales

The big three auto makers are stuck in an endless loop of short term, profits versus long-term survival.

GM is just spinning right now

The other way of writing the headline would be:

“Tesla loses market share again, down 18% from 2022 and down 33% from 2020 peak of 78%”

It’s actually good news for all, EV sales are up 65% overall.

The overall new-vehicle market contracted in 2022 by approximately 8%, but battery-electric vehicle (EV) sales outpaced the industry. According to the estimates from Cox Automotive’s Kelley Blue Book team, total new-vehicle sales in the U.S. fell year over year in 2022 to 13.8 million units, down from 15 million in 2021 and well below the 17.3 million the market delivered five years ago. EV sales in the U.S., on the other hand, soared as new models and high interest pushed sales volumes past 800,000 for the first time, an increase of 65% versus 2021.

It’s a forgone conclusion that Tesla’s market share in the U.S. will rise since the competitors are scaling back. The false narrative is that the EV transition / demand is the basis for the automakers scaling back their EV plans.

If the EV transition were to slow, which it’s not, then the situation would be different.

what a rosy headline to say that tesla lost about 10% market share in the last quarter

Tesla’s advantage is from being the first company to make EVs that are reasonable enough for people to replace gas cars with. The charging infra also helps a lot. Other car makes have almost caught up in terms of actual EV quality but their businesses aren’t ready to ramp up on EVs. Also, for most people (at least in the US), EVs aren’t ready (lack of charging and/or battery capacity, plus higher costs).

Tesla can lose their advantage if they don’t increase car quality. They’ve also suffered due to economic issues, but instead of slowing down EV production like traditional car makes can do, Tesla has had to cut prices. Their advantage will remain at least in the near future even without any drastic changes.

The Japanese companies don’t want to go EV. Not sure why, but they don’t.

Chinese and Korean Companies are all in. German companies are heading that direction.

US companies are mixed. Obviously we have Tesla, Rivian, and Lucid being all EV, but companies like Ford and GM are struggling with the changeover. I think GM and Ford struggle more because of their company culture and structure than anything else. Both GM and Ford have made some very bullish claims about EVs and their intention to prioritize it. They just don’t seem able to get it all together, but that’s not exactly something new for either company. Both are well known for being a bit of a mess with lots of unnecessary bureaucracy.

It’s because there’s no fucking infrastructure outside of Tesla. It’s not a mystery. There’s nowhere to charge an electric vehicle outside of Tesla’s network. I was going to buy an VW ID4 until my Tesla-owning friend turned me into this fact. Once there’s a serious reliable, ubiquitous, and cheap charging network in the US the EV demand will follow. We’re putting the cart before this horse in this country and it drives me insane.

What’s next for these headlines, “Tesla remains kind of the California EV market”?