Tesla Model 3 at Century City, Los Angeles store.
A couple of recent surveys say that most car buyers will not consider an EV. But that doesn't seem to be having any effect on Tesla sales.
Results of a J.D. Power and Survey Monkey survey released July 30 said car buyers have a "neutral level of confidence" about the future of electric vehicles. "Attributes scoring lowest include likelihood of purchasing an electric vehicle," the survey results said.
A sizable two-thirds (68%) of consumers say they have no experience with battery-electric vehicles, "meaning they have never been in one," J.D. Power said.
Consumer Reports was more optimistic about the future of EV purchases but said that only 36 percent of prospective car buyers in the CR 2019 Plug-In Electric Vehicles survey would consider getting a plug-in electric vehicle for their next new car.
If you're General Motors or BMW or Mercedes or a growing list of new EV entrants into the market, that points to an uphill struggle to sell lots of EVs.
Tesla is another story
But those dour survey results don't seem to apply to the Tesla brand. The American-made Model 3 was by far the leading EV sold worldwide, according to June global numbers posted by Inside EVs on July 31.
Tesla sold just shy of 40,000 Model 3s globally in June. The BAIC EU-Series was a distant second at almost 18,000 copies, while BYD Yuan was third with 6,566 sold.
Most of the other top 20 are Chinese, European, or Japanese brands. Chevy (Bolt and now discontinued Volt) didn't even make it into the top 20.
Of course, Tesla has to remain a going concern in order to keep selling and servicing all of those Model 3s.
The company posted a worse-than-expected $408 million loss in the second quarter and has rising long-term debt to service, totaling about $10 billion at the end of the first quarter. And July U.S. numbers for the Model 3 weren't as strong as June.
But Tesla keeps defying the odds. And will likely continue to do so as long as it continues to dominate the global EV market and doesn't tarnish* its globally recognized brand.
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*Stock-gyration bloggers and short sellers never give up, recycling the end-is-nigh-for-Tesla boilerplate every few weeks.
