Study: Tesla Conquests Come From Honda, Toyota

Tim Healey
by Tim Healey

A new study shows that a lot of Tesla buyers are coming to the brand from Honda and Toyota.


According to Automotive News, a study from S&P Global Mobility shows that Honda and Toyota owners are jumping to Tesla -- and Ford, Hyundai, and Chevrolet -- because Tesla, along with those three other brands, are further ahead when it comes to EV development.

"Early S&P Global Mobility data suggests consumers moving to electric vehicles in 2022 are largely doing so from Toyota and Honda — brands which have been unable to keep their internal combustion owners loyal until their own brands begin to participate more significantly in the EV transition," the company told AN.

Not only are Honda and Toyota lagging on EVs, but there are other problems. Toyota's bZ4X EV crossover went under a stop-sale order due to the possibility that its wheels could fall off, and Honda ended production on the Clarity, though Honda does have a Prologue EV planned for 2024.

Toyota did show 16 Toyota and Lexus electric vehicles to journalists about a year ago.

EV market share has doubled to 5.2 percent in the 12-month period that ended in September, according to AN. That's even higher in California, where EVs have a 16 percent share of the market, Honda and Toyota have always done well in California, but Tesla and Ford took the second and third spots through the third quarter of this year. Toyota stayed number one but Honda was number four.

"S&P Global Mobility conquest data for Tesla's Model 3 and Y, Ford Mustang Mach-E, Hyundai Ioniq 5 and the Chevrolet Bolt show strong captures of buyers from the two leading Japanese brands," S&P told AN.

From October of last year until September of this year, 15 percent of Tesla conquests came from Toyota and 13 percent came from Honda. Seven percent came from BMW and 6.2 percent came from Mercedes-Benz.

That number interests us because Tesla is considered a luxury brand but it's conquesting from Honda and Toyota. That tells us either the less-expensive Model 3 and Y are doing well, as noted in the above quote, and/or Honda and Toyota owners are willing to step up to pricier models.

According to S&P, it appears to be the former: "The top-five Model Y conquests are the Lexus RX, Honda CR-V, Toyota RAV4, Honda Odyssey and Honda Accord," S&P Global said to AN. "Meanwhile, the top five Model 3 conquests are the Honda Civic, Honda Accord, Toyota Camry, Toyota RAV4 and Honda CR-V."

Ten years ago, Tesla's Model S helped that brand also conquest Toyota customers, mostly Prius owners, as the Model S showed that "green" vehicles could look cool and be luxurious, and the Model S (and Tesla in general) became a status symbol for "green" buyers.

The news isn't all rosy for Tesla, though -- as EV nameplates increase (S&P predicts the number will grow from the current 48 to 159 by 2025), Tesla's market share will drop from 65 percent to 20 percent due to increased competition.

[Image: Tesla]

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Tim Healey
Tim Healey

Tim Healey grew up around the auto-parts business and has always had a love for cars — his parents joke his first word was “‘Vette”. Despite this, he wanted to pursue a career in sports writing but he ended up falling semi-accidentally into the automotive-journalism industry, first at Consumer Guide Automotive and later at Web2Carz.com. He also worked as an industry analyst at Mintel Group and freelanced for About.com, CarFax, Vehix.com, High Gear Media, Torque News, FutureCar.com, Cars.com, among others, and of course Vertical Scope sites such as AutoGuide.com, Off-Road.com, and HybridCars.com. He’s an urbanite and as such, doesn’t need a daily driver, but if he had one, it would be compact, sporty, and have a manual transmission.

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  • Jeffro Jeffro on Dec 02, 2022

    I can’t recall a visit to a Honda or Toyota dealership that wasn’t revolting to some degree. Why run yourself ragged going through the sleazy and greedy system store gauntlet, when you can purchase your luxury vehicle with just a few clicks on your smartphone?

  • Bobbysirhan Bobbysirhan on Dec 02, 2022

    Honda is pretty much SOL at this point. They sided against their customers a few years ago, and their cars no longer have much in common with the ones that made them loved. Toyota, on the other hand, stands alone as the best-selling car in the world today. VW is a distant second while Hyundai/Kia and the walking wounded of the Mitsubishi-Nissan-Renault alliance-of-mortal-enemies fight over the scraps.


    With the amount of virtue signaling involved in sacrificing the ability to take a convenient road trip and the hatred the woke have of free speech, I could see some movement back from Tesla to the new Prius. There are thousands of people who just had a miserable Thanksgiving stay in a Supercharger line that they're unable to Tweet about because they swore off of Twitter for fear of learning the truth about anything.


    • See 1 previous
    • Bobbysirhan Bobbysirhan on Dec 02, 2022

      I didn't have to send any of my money to oil oligarchs until Brandon ended our energy independence. Racist is a meaningless term now that being color blind is considered the definition of it. On the other hand, groomers are so real that they want to curtail free speech to avoid exposure. You're not landing any shots about gas lines because I live in the real world. I've also spent time listening to complaints from my California friends about the current state of the supercharger network. EV chargers that don't work, urine smells and garbage are the price of giving into the EV crush. You can have it all.








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