Electric Car Sales Continue To Improve Thanks To Strong Incentives

Electric car sales reporting for July indicates that the market is strong, but the difference between car makers is significant highlighting that marketing and incentives are having a major impact on the growth of the total market and individual brands.

Carscoops is reporting that electrician car sales are up in the US by 118,273 in July compared to electric cars sold last year. However, the news isn’t good for everyone nor are the gains as strong from everyone. For instance, Tesla, the segment leader, is only up 1.2% while Porsche and Audi are both down 51% and 37% respectively while GMC is reporting a massive 1,132% increase and Ford is up a more modest 67% all according to Carscoops. What really caught my attention is that Jaguar in July was up 2,233% (their transition to an all-electric brand hasn’t been going well) but I wonder how much of that number is due to the recall on the I-Pace where people for a nominal charge, can upgrade their car to the newest model (about a $20K upcharge).

This sales performance is connected to strong incentives from the Hyundai Motor Group, GM, and Ford. Tesla’s slight bump has been connected to the Cybertruck which is getting mixed reviews. And used EVs are also doing well, outselling gas cars also due to bargains and incentives.

This again showcases that EV pricing is inelastic, meaning that the better the value the buyer sees the more likely they are to buy an EV and right now the values, at least for some of the electric car makers, are impressive.

Electric Car Values

When Tesla came to market the cars carried a lot of status because they were often the only electric car you could buy and they were expensive, making them exclusive. But as Tesla expanded and drove their brand down market into cars like the Model Y and Model 3, that status began to erode and, largely as a result of Elon Musk buying Twitter and making it a right-wing platform, a lot of potential buyers, mostly liberals began to question the status the car provided and up until July it appeared Tesla was dropping into decline. 

While Musk was against marketing initially, they have recently reversed that decision which appears to be helping their sales volume of late and it is likely critical to overcome the negative image that Elon Musk has been creating. 

At the same time competing car companies came out with electric cars often priced below Teslas and they didn’t have the political or image problem that Elon Musk has created. In addition, they have marketing departments and able to do demand generation marketing. And finally, they have a dealership network which is required in a number of the US States where Teslas currently aren’t sold (the issue is that many US politicians in those states own dealerships and while this feels like restraint of trade to me, they have effectively locked Tesla out of the markets where these dealership laws exist. By the way, this doesn’t mean that Musk tossed out the entire dealer playbook either, they seem to be using it just fine.  

So, it appears that electric cars, just like their gas equivalents, are purchased by people. at are looking for a bargain and while the status associated with the Tesla brand has declined with. e image of Tesla, that company found that market. can offset this kind of problem allowing that company to reverse its past decline, at least a little bit.

Wrapping Up:

More and more people are buying electric cars now that those selling them have learned the incentives game. If you are I the market for one, remember our rules on who should, and should not, buy an electric car otherwise your experience will be unfortunate.

It is interesting that I did try to go back to a gas car myself but after a few months driving a gas car, I traded it in on a used electric car. I just found I didn’t enjoy driving the gas car as much. Apparently, a lot of other people are finding electric cars attractive and, in China, electric car sales have gone through the roof. 

Rob Enderle is a technology analyst covering automotive technology and battery developments at Torque News. You can learn more about Rob on Wikipedia, and follow his articles on Forbes, on X, and LinkedIn.