Tesla is just being sensible here, given the dynamics of the car market.
Point 1 - the car market is shifting heavily to sell more SUVs. (For some reason) buyers are preferring them to traditional saloons. [1]
Point 2 - as a result, many car manufacturers have a range of SUVs, which absolutely cross over with --and cannibalise-- their saloon options. For example:
* Audi has the Q3, Q5, Q7, and Q8
* BMW has the X1, X2, X3, X4, X5, X6, and X7
* Mercedes has the GLA, GLC, GLE, GLE coupe, and GLS
All of these are SUVs, and all of them cross over with other (saloon) models from the manufacturer.
If Tesla wants to sell more Model 3-sized cars to consumers, it needs a small SUV alongside the Model 3. This is just good basic sense, on their part.
I'm not challenging the existence of the cars, I'm asking if the global car market reflects the US market as in the citation. I'm especially interested if it applies in China.
To the surprise of many in the industry, sedan sales in May leaped up by 12.1 percent on the same period last year to 940,000 units, while the SUV segment seemed to lose momentum, growing 6.5 percent year-on-year to 761,000.
The SUV segment had retained a much faster growth rate though when the first five months this year were combined. Its sales grew 11.7 percent from January to May to 4.22 million while sedans rose 4.8 percent to 4.73 million in the same period.
"It is understandable that SUV sales growth has slowed a little bit after years of surging ahead," said Xu Haidong, an assistant to the association's secretary-general.
Point 1 - the car market is shifting heavily to sell more SUVs. (For some reason) buyers are preferring them to traditional saloons. [1]
Point 2 - as a result, many car manufacturers have a range of SUVs, which absolutely cross over with --and cannibalise-- their saloon options. For example:
* Audi has the Q3, Q5, Q7, and Q8
* BMW has the X1, X2, X3, X4, X5, X6, and X7
* Mercedes has the GLA, GLC, GLE, GLE coupe, and GLS
All of these are SUVs, and all of them cross over with other (saloon) models from the manufacturer.
If Tesla wants to sell more Model 3-sized cars to consumers, it needs a small SUV alongside the Model 3. This is just good basic sense, on their part.
[1] https://qz.com/1344537/by-2020-suvs-could-make-up-50-of-us-c...