The Tesla Model 3 is the first electric vehicle to surpass the Renault Clio or Volkswagen Golf in monthly sales.
Jato Dynamics shared sales data with Bloomberg News. It shows that Tesla has a strong lead over its competitors, selling 24,591 Model 3s in September to compare to the 18,264 for the Renault Clio at the second spot. This is also the first month that a car manufactured outside of Europe has been a top-seller monthly.
According to sales data, the automotive market is gradually shifting away from using combustion engines to make way for electric cars. Many government subsidies have helped to lower the cost of EVs, hybrid cars, and vans. Bloomberg reports that electric and hybrid vehicle sales accounted for nearly twice the market share in 2020 at 23 percent.
The global chip shortage has caused a drop in sales of new cars. EU sales fell 25 percent year-on–year. Total sales for September 2021 were 964,800 units. According to Felipe Munoz, Jato analyst and AM Online contributor, dealers continue to have problems with new cars because of the chip shortage. Many consumers are now turning to the used market for new cars, as they don't want to wait more than one year to get a new vehicle.
Tesla has always had a strong September month, pushing sales hard to the end of each quarter. According to AM Online, Tesla's September sales accounted in 74 percent of its total third quarter volume. The Model 3 and Model Y combined have a leading market share of 24 percent for electric vehicles, surpassing rivals Stellantis (22 percent) and Volkswagen (22%).
This is the hardware. But, the software side of things has been less easy for Tesla this month. After drivers complained about bugs and false crash warnings, the company pulled its latest self-driving beta. Tesla CEO Elon Musk tweeted early in the morning that the latest beta might have been restored.
