Tesla Sold More Cars than Audi in 2024

Although the question of whether Tesla is a luxury automaker is debatable, the numbers don’t lie. For the first time, the electric brand headquartered in Texas sold more cars than one of Germany’s three legacy premium car companies. In 2024, the firm led by Elon Musk shipped 1,789,226 vehicles, or precisely 118,008 units more than Audi. The Volkswagen Group marque fell last year by 11.8% to 1,671,218 cars.

It’s an impressive performance considering Tesla only has five models in its lineup, and all of them are electric: Model 3, Model Y, Model S, Model X, and the Cybertruck. As you can imagine, the 3 and Y did all the heavy lifting, generating 1,704,093 of the total sales. The S, X, and Cybertruck accounted for the remaining 84,323 units. Taking into account only the volume-oriented 3 and Y, Tesla still delivered 32,875 more cars than Audi.

The company with the Four Rings, which also owns Lamborghini, is an automotive juggernaut with a plethora of models. I’ll try to name them all: A1 Sportback/Allstreet, A3 Sportback/Sedan, A5 Sedan/Avant, A6 Sedan/Avant, A7 Sportback, A8, Q2, Q3/Q3 Sportback, Q5/Q5 Sportback, Q7, and Q8. Many of these cars have S and RS performance derivatives.

On the electric side, there’s the Q4 E-Tron/Q4 E-Tron Sportback, A6 Sportback E-Tron/A6 Avant E-Tron, Q6 E-Tron/Q6 E-Tron Sportback, Q8 E-Tron/Q8 E-Tron Sportback, and the E-Tron GT. 

Moreover, there are China-exclusive models, such as long-wheelbase sedans and SUVs, along with the confusingly named Q6 with combustion engines. I might have missed a few, but you get the idea–Audi has far more models in its vast portfolio than Tesla, yet it sold fewer cars last year. That’s despite a huge powertrain portfolio with gasoline, diesel, mild hybrid, plug-in hybrid, and purely electric drivetrains.

Tesla just launched the Model Y refresh, but it probably needs that long-awaited entry-level EV to catch Mercedes-Benz in the sales race. The three-pointed star shipped 1,983,400 cars in 2024, a drop of 3% compared to the year before. Despite falling 2.3%, BMW retained its luxury sales crown with 2,200,177 vehicles carrying the famous roundel.

Audi hopes to turn things around with the launch of its uninspiringly named AUDI (written in capital letters) brand in China. Eschewing the iconic logo from the historic Auto Union era, the new car company co-created with SAIC will launch three production models from mid-2025.