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With millions of Tesla vehicles sold in the US by now, more and more Teslas are inevitably going to be traded in for other vehicles by owners who decide they no longer want the car for one reason or another. And it may just be that these people wanted another vehicle that became available after they initially bought their Tesla. Now, with data from Edmunds, we have more insight into which vehicles Tesla owners who trade in their cars are trading them in for.
First of all, though, let’s note that these stats are based on Tesla vehicles traded into dealerships. Naturally, most Tesla trade-ins are probably for other Teslas — to Tesla. Those are not captured in these stats, though. Also not captured are trade-ins to other EV companies that don’t go through dealers — Rivian, Polestar, Lucid, or Fisker (RIP). Regarding Tesla itself, “Tesla still maintains an 87% brand retention rate, outperforming two non-electric automakers at 67% with Lexus and 54% at Toyota,” according to data from Bloomberg Intelligence published in April 2024.
Based on the Edmunds data, these are the models (electric and gas) that Tesla trade-ins at dealerships are most commonly for:
As we can see, the top three models are all full electrics (the Ford F-150 Lightning, Cadillac LYRIQ, and Kia EV9). Then, after the Chevy Silverado 1500, there are three more full electrics (the BMW i4, Ford Mustang Mach-E, and BMW iX).
Ford F-150 Lightning. Photo by CleanTechnica.
Cadillac LYRIQ. Photo by Steve Hanley | CleanTechnica.
Kia EV9 at Very Large Array in New Mexico. Photo by Jennifer Sensiba | CleanTechnica.
As I’ve stated many times in the past year or two, there are many more great electric vehicle options on the market today than there were five years ago. This list shows it. Those six electric vehicles are all high-quality, long-range electric vehicles that you can wholeheartedly recommend to a friend if they offer the styling and branding the friend desires.
As far as why Tesla buyers may be trading in for these vehicles, they could want a pickup truck (Lightning), a long and large SUV with different features or styling (LYRIQ and EV9), the styling and branding of a BMW (iX and i4), or the rather unique attempt at a throwback known as the Mustang Mach-E, which I absolutely love.
Despite full electric vehicles dominating the list of vehicles Tesla drivers are most likely to trade in for, about half of Tesla owners in this case were trading in for non-electrics. However, recall that this is Tesla vehicles traded in at auto dealerships, and does not include trade-ins to Tesla itself. Without a doubt, a large portion of Tesla drivers trade in for new Teslas. However, excluding that matter, the data tell us that we still need a lot more EV models — since six EV models dominate the top trade-ins list but EVs overall trail gasmobiles (of which there are many more models in many more classes).
Pickup trucks stand out here since trade-ins for these pickups seem to indicate that many Tesla owners who want or need a truck are not interested in the Cybertruck. Though, given limited availability of the Cybertruck still, perhaps it’s early to be jumping to such conclusions. Also, the pickup trucks on that list above just come to 11.4% of Tesla trade-ins. And no one ever thought that every Tesla owner would like the Cybertruck anyway.
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