Featured Lexus President-Electric Car Push Too Soon

Do you know how unlikely it was ten years ago that anybody would ever be saying this about Tesla?

Well, for xxxxxx passenger cars in the US in July, it was one of the top 10 sellers.
July 2018 YTD U.S. Passenger Car Sales Rankings – Best-Selling Cars In America | GCBC

 

i don't see sedan filter in the link.

 

10 years ago, no one would ever think a electric car would be a point of inquiry as to how many manufacturers beat the monthly sedan sales.
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You are absolutely correct, I was wrong, that list isn’t sedans, it is passenger cars.

 

and not in order of sales.

 

If you click on the “sales” column it will order it by sales.
I haven’t confirmed this yet, but I heard the Model 3 was in the number 1 spot by dollar value of sales. I believe it was #7 by quantity.

 

If confirmed by Jeff Cobb's Hybridcars, I'll have to go with dual scale, left and right Y-axis graphs. I've had practice with this in the past. <GRINS>

Bob Wilson

 

Once organized for top sales, the top ten models are a majority of sedan centric models. Only the Civic, Corolla, and Elantra have a hatchback option.

 

model S beats all cars (gasoline and hybrid) in its class in the US.
In July in the US, the model 3 beat all mid size sedans that get near its price range. The only cars ahead of it are the corolla, civic, camry, accord, sentra, altima - all of which are much less expensive than the model 3 long range premium ($50K is minimum price before tax credits). Things may get interesting in March 2019, as the lower priced standard range (220 mile aer) model will likely be available as well as time to improve the factory and autopilot. The lower $41K standard range with autopilot may get to number 3 in the US even though the federal tax credit will have dropped to $3750.

July 2018 YTD U.S. Passenger Car Sales Rankings – Best-Selling Cars In America | GCBC

 

There are currently 4 BEVs with a range of over 100 miles, that don't have prices starting over $50k. Some aren't available nationwide yet. While three are hatchbacks, they are all still actual cars in a crossover and SUV market.

Like the early days of hybrids, the segment suffers from a lack of selection models. Unlike hybrids, I expect increased choices for consumers will grow the BEV segment, and not just keep the sales rate steady.

 

i hope so, it is yet to be seen. with low gas prices and an anti environmental fed, the odds are stacked against us.

 

according to lexus enthusiast, they are pretty proud of their numbers.

 

completely blown away that an ev - would move up to this level - so quickly. Exciting times. Bring on more competition!
PostScript;
A Decade ago - In late 2008 early 2009, (IIRC) Toyota was gracious enough to invite a couple dozen if ys , over the top / fanatic / efficiency crazed PC members / & Toyota Folk to the Gen 3 Prius reveal, just prior to the Detroit Auto Show, .... & in that same arena, that 2 dozen or so geek/ folk imagined we were about to see the first plug-in Prius. Geeks that we were, it was so very overwhelming.
Bam ... we were the 1st to see the newer - higher efficiency Prius ....but was NOT the plug-in Prius that several of us would have imagined happening back rhen. Toyota had such a very huge lead on the competition a decade ago. A plug-in,l - a full decade ago, of any type, would have blown the efficiency competition out of the market. Just as the Prius did, early on.

imho - Toyota may have temporarily lost their efficiency way - what with all the Nutty hydrogen lobbying. Still, it appears it was the GM impact hybrid prototype that scared Toyota - forcing Toyota into a competitive gear, to create the incredible Prius. Gen 1 & 2 ,& 3.
There's still hope - that Toyota, is in that same state of shock - like with the GM impact, .... getting left in the dust - as they likely felt during the 'surprise' GM Impact prototype era.

And now? being surpassed by many longer range plugins? ... including upstart Tesla? Stealing their lunch in many of the Lexus market segments already? And possibly more to come ? Don't count Toyota/Lexus out just yet ... though it may be a while before a revival. Google one of my favorites, Olympic hero, Dave Wottle, as an example. And if you're too lazy a link;

Toyota ... it happened before, it could happen again.
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I still have the pictures and almost walked away from the Gen-3. Toyota would only sell what would become TSS-P after buying the top trim, Gen-3 Prius . . . jacking up the price by $8,000. Still, we had a 2001 Echo and a 2003 Prius and it was a good time to replace the Echo.

In January 2009, I was not interested in plug-in mods to the Prius. Batteries were frightfully expensive; battery management systems were home-built, and; hacking the control laws was pretty ugly. Since only MG2 could provide EV power, it would be an especially lame car in traffic. I'm not throwing sand at the PiP but it too was just an MG2 EV. The Prius Prime did it right.

I also took time to visit the Detroit Auto Show and nothing technically appealed compared to the Prius. Yes, I did see a Fisker but talking with the attractive 'show gals' left me dumber than before. Only the Toyota show gal had sensible shoes and a technical clue. The lasting impression was everyone else was selling 'sheet metal art.'

Bob Wilson