Tesla Gaining on BMW in Race to Become Top Luxury Car Seller in the United States

Tesla moved ever closer to recording its biggest achievement yet in the auto industry, becoming the top luxury car seller in the United States. Based on US registration data for the first 11 months of 2021, Tesla has jumped to second place in sales charts with Elon Musk's company outselling traditional luxury brands Audi, Lexus, and Mercedes-Benz from January to November of last year.

Tesla sells 303,246 vehicles through the first 11 months of 2021

Tesla had 303,246 new-vehicle registrations in the United States through November in 2021, a massive 75 percent increase compared to the same period in 2020. Lexus came in third with 293,808 units sold in the first 11 months of 2021, a 22 percent rise compared to the previous year.

Mercedes-Benz sold 250,739 vehicles in 2021 US sales from January to November to clinch fourth place. That was disappointing for the German carmaker, with sales increasing by just 5.9 percent compared to the year before. Audi came in fifth with total sales of 192,531 vehicles in the first 11 months of last year.

Acura landed in sixth place with 150,728 units sold. Cadillac came in seventh with 118,343 vehicle registrations, while Volvo took eighth place with 114,752 deliveries. Lincoln and Land Rover rounded out the top 10, selling 85,773 and 74,540 vehicles, respectively.

Only one brand stands in Tesla's way to achieving its goal of being the king of the luxury car segment in the United States. BMW sold the most vehicles through the first 11 months of last year, with a total of 318,182 new units registered. They own an advantage of 14,936 vehicles over Tesla heading into the final month of 2021.

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Can Tesla take the top spot from BMW?

For those questioning why data is still not available for the annual sales in 2021, Tesla does not supply its sales data in the United States or any other country for that matter. The only way to find out its car sales is by registering the vehicles sold. Statisticians are still waiting for the information for December to come through, with the results set to arrive in a few weeks.

Analyst Jessica Caldwell, who works for major US auto website Edmunds, spoke to Automotive News about the close race between BMW and Tesla in the 2021 car sales. She said that "the numbers are too close to call at this moment, but it looks like there could be an upset."

Caldwell added that even if Tesla fails to overhaul BMW's lead and grab the No. 1 spot in luxury car sales, it is still a remarkable feat for the world's leading electric carmaker to rise to the top in such a very short period of time. What makes this accomplishment even more incredible for the Austin, Texas-based company is that it faced imminent collapse just a few years ago.

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