Audi sold 4,438 electric vehicles in the U.S. in the first quarter of 2023.
Courtesy Audi
Audi is selling more electric vehicles in the U.S. as car buyers here warm up to battery technology. That is a positive for all EVs makers, but there is another lesson about American consumers as well.
Audi of America, part of Germany’s
Volkswagen
(ticker: VOW. Germany), reported first-quarter U.S. sales of 52,763 vehicles, up 49% year over year, but down from 54,054 units delivered in the fourth quarter of 2022.
The quarter over quarter drop isn’t all that surprising. The first quarter can be seasonally weak for auto sales. Daniel Weissland, president of Audi of America, characterized the quarter as strong.
Audi of America sold 4,438 EVs in the first quarter, up from 3,247 in the first quarter of 2022 and 4,257 in the fourth quarter of 2022. Weissland says it was the best first quarter for EV sales in America the German auto maker has had.
EVs made up 8.4% of Audi’s U.S. sales in the first quarter, up from 7.9% in the fourth quarter of 2022. The figure is 8.5% over the past 12 months, compared with 5.6% over the prior 12 months.
Those numbers are critical for Audi,
Tesla
(TSLA),
General Motors
(GM) and any other auto maker that wants to sell EVs. There are more EV models in the U.S. chasing after growing EV demand. Electric vehicles will have to capture more of the overall market if all auto makers hope to succeed.
EVs’ share of U.S. new car sales ended 2022 at about 6%, while battery-electric cars accounted for about 12% of new-car sales in Europe. The Chinese penetration rate was about 22%.
Audi of America also reported a 6% year over year decline in the sale of certified preowned vehicles. That comes after certified preowned vehicles sales fell 33% year over year in 2022.
There is a good reason for the decline in preowned sales: American car buyers know a good deal when they see one.
Vehicles coming off lease are what drives certified preowned sales. “During last year when the used car prices were so high, a lot of our customers bought their own vehicles,” Weissland said. “There was value, there was equity in the car.”
Americans bought their vehicles at the residual value embedded in the lease long ago and then sold them, benefiting from strong prices for used vehicles.
Used-car prices have fallen from their recent peaks, but they are still up a lot. The Manheim Used Vehicle Value Index, a widely tracked measure, is at 238.6, down about 7% from all time highs reached in late 2021 but still up about 54% compared with three years ago.
That dynamic will normalize over time as used-car prices settle down. For now, it is a small benefit accruing to people who leased cars before and around the worst of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Volkswagen stock rose 0.6% in overseas trading Monday, while GM and
Tesla
shares dropped 1.1% and 6.1%, respectively. The
S&P 500
rose 0.4% and the
Dow Jones Industrial Average
gained 1%.
Tesla and GM stock were reacting negatively to their own delivery results, reported Sunday and Monday, respectively. Both reported growing EV sales, but investors appear to have wanted even faster growth. Both stocks were up on Friday, which helps to explain some of Monday’s declines.
Corrections & Amplifications: Audi of America posted its best first quarter for U.S. EV sales on record. An earlier version of this article incorrectly said it was the best quarter in terms of U.S. EV sales.
Write to Al Root at [email protected]
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