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California: Tesla Model 3 Was The Best Selling Car In Q1 2020

For the first time, we see an all-electric car on the top in California.

Tesla Model 3

Great news comes from California, where - despite the general market slowdown - some electric cars noted brilliant sales results - including #1 for the Tesla Model 3!

According to the California New Car Dealers Association, the overall market was 507,646 (down 4.3% year-over-year from 530,402) and the forecast for 2020 is quite depressing - 1.54 million vehicles.

The CNCDA did not release the numbers for BEV/PHEV/HEV categories this time, but the individual results for top BEVs are pretty awesome.

Plug-in electric car sales in California - Q1 2020

Four all-electric cars were in the forefront of their scategories and two of them were #1:

  • Tesla Model 3 (18,856, up 19.3%): #1 in Near Luxury (52.2% share)
  • Tesla Model X (2,826, up 10.9%): #3 in Luxury Mid Size SUV (10.3% share)
  • Chevrolet Bolt EV (2,654, up 16.1%): #1 in Subcompact (22.2% share)
  • Tesla Model S (1,561, down 27.0%): #3 in Luxury and High End Sports Cars (11.7% share)

It's great to see that three of those four cars actually improved sales year-over-year, and Model 3 controls more than half of its category.

On the other hand, the Model S went down noticeably and BMW i3 is no longer in the top 5 of Entry Luxury.

Tesla brand sales amounted to 23,250 (up 9.3% year-over-year from 21,270), while the market share was 4.6% (compared to 4.0% a year ago).

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Tesla Model 3 - the best selling car


What do you think?

The first quarter of 2020 positively surprised us with the first place among all types of cars, not only passenger but also SUV/trucks, for the all-electric Tesla Model 3:

  1. Tesla Model 3 - 18,856
  2. Honda Civic - 18,001
  3. Toyota Camry - 17,871
  4. Toyoa RAV4 - 17,261
  5. Toyota Corolla - 15,575
  6. Honda Accord - 12,551

If the Model 3 was able to achieve such a result more than two years after the market launch, just imagine how great it might be once the Model Y deliveries will ramp-up. EV in #1 every quarter? We hope so.

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