The Surprising Top 5 Trade-Ins for Tesla Model 3
The electric automaker is seeing significant demand for its ‘premium’ sedan.
Tesla's newest midsize sedan is taking the market by storm. While the domestic electric manufacturer is still experiencing some growing pains, consumers don't seem to mind, happily scooping up the automaker's offering. More interesting to note is that Tesla has found a trend it didn't expect: Trade-ins for the Model 3 aren't just lateral movements from other premium sedans.
During Tesla's latest IR conference call, it broke the news over the top 5 trade-ins for Tesla Model 3, with no particular order specified:
- BMW 3 Series
- Honda Accord
- Honda Civic
- Nissan Leaf
- Toyota Prius
These specifically didn't include other Teslas which may have come in for trade-in (like the Model S or X), it does raise the question of just who Tesla should be focusing its marketing towards for the Model 3. The $35,000 option for the sedan still isn't available to purchase, meaning that the current Model 3 offerings will run consumers in the neighborhood of $49,000 to $80,500, depending on how the vehicle is configured. Seeing options like the Honda Civic, which stars at $18,900, and Toyota Prius (carrying a heftier price tag of $23,475) may not have been immediately expected.
The Model 3 fits in a market space known as "premium midsize sedan, meaning it directly competes with vehicles like the Audi A4, BMW 3-series, Infinity Q50, Volkswagen Passat, and the like. Two particular items which set it apart and may be part of the reason that many owners are choosing the Model 3 over other options are the electrification and semi-autonomy options available for the Tesla, something rather absent for most other vehicles that it competes with.
During its last IR call, Tesla claimed that the Model 3 has outsold all of its competitors combined, resulting in a 52 percent dominance in its market space during 2017.
Last year, only eight Tesla showrooms had Model 3s available for test drives. Musk & Co. announced that this number has now reached 90 showrooms, and is planned to include both rear-wheel-drive and performance editions at every dealership for prospective customers to demo. Musk states that Model 3s will soon be available for test drives in all stores around the country, including both the standard and performance variants.
