Tesla Model 3 takes a spot in Top 10 Best selling Cars in America

Tesla’s future is tried to the Model 3 as it was built as the company’s first mid-priced mass produced electric car. When Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla Motors, introduced the car during summer of 2017, the Tesla Model 3 was aiming to be accessible to middle class customers and not just the super wealthy. However, Tesla has suffered a series of public challenges since early 2018 with voluntary recall of >100K Model S cars, fatal crash of vehicle equipped with semi-autonomous driving system, as well as rough patch of Elon Musk’s relationship with analysts and investors. The biggest challenge for Tesla in 2018 was solving production delays for Model 3 sedan.

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Tesla Model 3 Production Process

The Tesla Model 3 production process is completed on the General Assembly line (GA3) about 1,000 feet long, which takes around 90 minutes to carry out 43 steps to go from an empty body to a fully functional Model 3 car. At Tesla’s Fremont plant, the Model 3 assembly line, also known as the ‘tent’, was erected using a lightweight aluminum structure. The key point about Tesla Model 3 production line is its simplicity as the total steps (43) required to build the Model 3 are almost 25-33% less than traditional auto maker. Initially, Tesla did suffer from over automation of Model 3 assembly line as the robots kept giving teething and calibration problems. However, all of the production kinks have been ironed out as Tesla has finally started to produce almost 4600 Model 3s per week. Check out the assembly line video below to watch how the Model 3 gets made.

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2018 Best Selling Passenger Cars in America

Tesla’s Model 3 sedan continues to blow wall street Analysts out of the water. Tesla had planned to ramp up production of the Model 3 in the third quarter (July) of 2018 with almost 56K cars per quarter and 65K cars in fourth quarter. Given this production ramp up, September 2018 was the first time Tesla Model 3 joined the sales number of volume-brand passenger cars from Toyota, Honda, Nissan, Hyundai, and Ford. In September 2018, Tesla Model 3 outsold the competition in terms of volume for compact sedan cars.

We have outlined the total number of passenger cars sold in the United States during 2018. According to the total sales numbers, Tesla Model 3 has taken 9th place with a total of 115,067 Model 3s sold as of November 2018. This represents a gain of almost 19000% year over year as there were only 607 Model 3s sold last year. The first place is once again taken by Toyota Camry with 314,346 cars sold, followed by Honda Civic with 299,376 cars, Toyota Corolla with 278,293 cars, Honda Accord with 262,444 cars, Nissan Sentra with 195,479, Nissan Altima with 192,082 cars, Hyundai Elantra with 185,229 cars, and Ford Fusion with 157,548 cars sold during 2018. The main interesting thing to note is that out of all top 10 best selling cars, Tesla Model 3 was the only car with a positive substantial growth year over year. All other cars saw their sales number decline except for Hyundai Elantra. Check out the full list of passenger cars ranked by their sales figures in the United States.

Rank	Model	Year to Date (Sales)	YTD Change (%)
1	Toyota Camry	314346	-8.55
2	Honda Civic	299376	-13.45
3	Toyota Corolla	278293	-10
4	Honda Accord	262444	-12.68
5	Nissan Sentra	195479	-3.04
6	Nissan Altima	192082	-18.88
7	Hyundai Elantra	185339	4.79
8	Ford Fusion	157548	-18.02
9	Tesla Model 3	115067	18856.67
10	Ford Focus	110384	-24.98
11	Hyundai Sonata	96413	-21.8
12	Kia Soul	94581	-12.51
13	Kia Forte	94181	-14.13
14	Kia Optima	93794	-6.59
15	Toyota Prius Family	81239	-18.09
16	Volkswagen Jetta	80533	-25.83
17	Dodge Charger	72933	-10.53
18	Ford Mustang	71450	-3.64
19	Subaru Impreza	70520	-9.6
20	Nissan Versa	69074	-30.68
21	Dodge Challenger	62560	4.22
22	Mazda 3	59361	-14.4
23	Mercedes-Benz C-Class	48030	-32.3
24	Ford Fiesta	47421	11.34
25	Chrysler 300	43110	-5.28
26	Lexus ES	43097	-7.02
27	BMW 3-Series	41394	-23.19
28	Mercedes-Benz E / CLS-Class	41382	-0.93
29	Volkswagen Golf	39846	-38.17
30	BMW 5-Series	39181	9.09
31	Volkswagen Passat	38285	-33.66
32	Ford Taurus	36866	-2.58
33	Nissan Maxima	36737	-41.33
34	Subaru Legacy	36735	-18.81
35	Honda Fit	34262	-22.51
36	Infiniti Q50	31073	-11.61
37	Toyota Avalon	31042	2.94
38	Audi A4	30099	-1.37
39	BMW 4-Series	29463	-18.66
40	Mazda 6	28581	-9.63
41	Acura TLX	27637	-12.94
42	Tesla Model S	26700	9.43
43	Subaru Impreza WRX	26313	-9.06
44	Toyota Yaris	25957	-38.59
45	Hyundai Accent	25260	-53
46	Mercedes-Benz CLA-Class	24561	33.56
47	Mini Cooper	24500	-16.01
48	Audi A5	24226	32.07
49	Mitsubishi Mirage	22568	5.64
50	Kia Rio	21367	41.11
51	Lexus IS	20734	-12.53
52	Lincoln MKZ	17978	-28.36
53	Audi A3	17513	-18.87
54	Honda Clarity FCV	17317	1581.26
55	Kia Stinger	15517	91176.47
56	Hyundai Ioniq	13801	34.13
57	Volkswagen Beetle	13494	-5.84
58	Mercedes-Benz S-Class	13492	-1.55
59	Nissan Leaf	13048	17.25
60	Alfa Romeo Giulia	10646	34.88
61	Acura ILX	10349	-5.25
62	Honda Insight	10278	342500
63	Volvo 60-Series	9714	-37.28
64	Hyundai Veloster	9710	-18.42
65	Porsche 911	8994	9.72
66	BMW 2-Series	8490	-19.52
67	Mazda MX-5 Miata	8460	-21.67
68	Lexus LS	8408	121.96
69	Porsche Panamera	7782	24
70	Infiniti Q60	7743	0
71	Lincoln Continental	7588	-29.71
72	Audi A6	7503	-47.66
73	BMW 7-Series	7288	-10.78
74	Volvo 90-Series	7288	-26.69
75	Genesis G80	7141	-51.33
76	Ford C-Max	6667	-60.72
77	Lexus GS	6017	-12.25
78	BMW i3	5764	2.86
79	Porsche 718	5039	5.29
80	Fiat 500	4952	-58.8
81	Kia Cadenza	4309	-32.17
82	Jaguar XE	4261	-50.29
83	Infiniti Q70	4150	-22.66
84	Toyota 86 / FR-S	3838	-40.23
85	Subaru BRZ	3485	-9.1
86	BMW 6-Series	3432	14.94
87	Fiat 124 Spider	3331	-20.52
88	Nissan 370Z	3266	-24.22
89	Lexus RC	3017	-54.82
90	Audi A7	2757	-36.72
91	Jaguar F-Type	2071	-44.28
92	Genesis G90	2056	-48.5
93	Jaguar XF	2055	-51.02
94	Mercedes-Benz SL-Class	1968	-26.1
95	Mercedes-Benz SLC-Class	1841	-29.19
96	Lexus LC	1827	26.79
97	Acura RLX	1715	63.18
98	Toyota Mirai	1457	-5.51
99	Jaguar XJ	1455	-40.81
100	Mercedes-Benz AMG GT	1389	-2.59
101	Fiat 500L	1374	-11.53
102	Audi TT	1273	-38.11
103	Audi A8	1219	-57.39
104	Smart ForTwo	1154	-60.28
105	Chrysler 200	1037	-94.28
106	Audi R8	848	18.44
107	BMW i8	675	65.44
108	Nissan GT-R	513	-5.35
109	Volkswagen CC	444	-65.87
110	Dodge Dart	387	-96.11
111	Kia K900	299	-28.81
112	Alfa Romeo 4C	228	-40
113	Acura NSX	153	-70.86
114	Genesis G70	129	0
115	Ford GT	125	56.25
116	Honda CR-Z	29	0
117	Dodge Viper	16	-97.22
118	BMW Z4	4	-99.2

Tesla Model 3 and the Future

Looking at the sales figures, we are very confident that Tesla Model 3 will retain its spot in the top 10 best selling passenger cars in the United States. With mass production sales numbers, Tesla will most likely expand its price range, introduce more buying options by including leasing, as well as expand in to international markets. Given all of these possibilities, we will not be surprised if Tesla manages to produce close to 10,000 Model 3s per week at the end of next year.

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Source: goodcarbadcar