Auto industry observers more than once have commented that the US luxury market really is two different markets, with Tesla in one and the nineteen other luxury marques in the other. Here's another finding supporting that observation: Tesla owners who return to market are much more likely to acquire another electric vehicle than owners of non-Tesla luxury EVs.

As the chart below illustrates, Tesla owners generally have been substantially more likely to acquire another EV than owners of competitive luxury EVs. In the 31-month time period from January 2020 through July 2022, an average of 65 out of 100 return-to-market Tesla households have acquired another EV. However, the corresponding metric for non-Tesla luxury EV owners is just 45%. If the abnormal results in March, April and May 2021 are removed, the gap between Tesla and non-Tesla households increases from 20 to 23 percentage points. (All cited data apply to households that disposed of their original vehicle when they acquired their new vehicle.)

In the first seven months of 2022, Audi and Porsche had the highest EV return-to-market volumes among non-Tesla luxury brands. But their fuel type loyalty results were also the lowest. While a little less than half of return-to-market Audi EV households acquired another EV, only a third of Porsche households did so. The luxury brands with higher fuel type loyalty had substantially lower return to market volumes, with none reaching 200 households.

These findings point to at least two conclusions. First, Tesla households' experiences with an EV in general are more positive than the experiences of households owning a competitor EV. Second, Tesla possesses yet another advantage over its EV competitors, at least in the short term: A significantly higher mix of Tesla's owners will at least stay with an EV (and possibly another Tesla), in contrast to the competitor owners - more than half of whom defect from the fuel type, and therefore (automatically) the model, if not the brand altogether.

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This article was published by S&P Global Mobility and not by S&P Global Ratings, which is a separately managed division of S&P Global.