[kravens_last]

Elon may be a negative press magnet, and Tesla may not be a perfect vehicle, but for a company to go from concept car being made fun of on Top Gear to the car I see most on the street here in my city (more than corollas and camrys even), is unheard of.

I just hope that critical mass is reached AFTER the supercharger infrastructure is set in place.

[skeeter2020]

>> to the car I see most on the street here in my city (more than Corollas and Camrys even)

US Sales 2020

Tesla: 235,000 units

Toyota: 1,837,898 total units, Camry: 294,348 units, Corolla: 237,179 units

...and that's just last year, they've sold at least 500K units combined annually over the past decade.

So either you live on a anomaly street or your observations don't count much against easily verifiable numbers.

[hinkley]

Tesla: 235,000 units

Camry: 294,348 units

Corolla: 237,179 units

OP claims they've seen more Teslas than Camries and Corollas. English tends to be imprecise when 'and' can mean 'or' or 'combined', I'm pretty sure we can assume 'or' here.

It's perfectly reasonable for some markets to have more of a similar volume of vehicle either purchased or seen out on the street. Not all vehicles are driven the same amount or at the same time of day. If moms are using Corollas to pick up their kids at 3:30, I probably won't see those. If tech workers are driving them home at 6, I'll probably see more of those.

[drawkbox]

Probably also some selection bias:

> Frequency illusion, also known as the Baader–Meinhof phenomenon or frequency bias, is a cognitive bias in which, after noticing something for the first time, there is a tendency to notice it more often, leading someone to believe that it has a high frequency (a form of selection bias)[1]

What you are looking for you will see more of especially if new to you or new in general. For instance, most people see Teslas because they are looking for them. No one is looking for a Camry or Corolla unless you know someone that owns one.

When you get a new car, you suddenly see all of those styles on the street, they were always there though. If you start looking for Camrys or Corollas you will see tons, same with any vehicle really that is even slightly mass produced.

I always notice Teslas myself because I was looking for them. Some of them like the Model 3/X/Y models also are just bigger/taller than most cars and they stand out.

There are definitely lots more Teslas on the road today than just a few years ago, but if you look for others you'll see them as well.

In Arizona, people are on the lookout for Waymos as they are the self-driving cars being tested there, people see them all the time because they are looking for them, and they are big and have the sensors on top and around. Seems like everyone sees them all the time. There are tons of Camrys and Corollas which no one sees unless you own one or have a friend/family member that has one.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frequency_illusion

[speedgoose]

Where I live (Norway) it's correlated to wealth and lifestyle. Wealthier areas in cities are not surprisingly full of Tesla and other premium vehicles. Tons of etron, I-Pace, Taycan, etron gt, eqc,...

You will find the self charging Toyotas in the country side but the sales are doing downhill fast.

[asadlionpk]

Must be bay area or LA. I see a few Model 3 and Ys on every street.

[filoleg]

Or Seattle area. On east coast, even in big places like NYC or Chicago, seeing a Tesla still feels like an uncommon occurrence. In Seattle or Bay Area, you cannot drive through an intersection without seeing at least one (or, more often, more than one) Tesla.

[throwawayboise]

Yep. I see them rarely enough that they are noticable when I do see them. I see one or two a week, probably.

[scythe]

They seem to be common in RI and more generally in Atlantic New England. Not sure if it has something to do with state incentives or just a culture thing.

[GordonS]

You're assuming they are in the US. In Norwegian cities (e.g. Oslo, Stavanger), Teslas are everywhere because of the high value of the Norwegian Kroner, high local wages, and government subsidies on EVs.

In some European cities they seem to be over-represented too, such as Amsterdam.

[poetaster]

Even in old prussiab Brandenburg I see a lot of Teslas. Berlins waste fat. But we're about to open a factory.

[dougmwne]

I'm now much more convinced of their observations than before I saw your numbers. It seems very plausible that among cars with similar sales figures that one might be dominant in particular neighborhoods, especially when it is associated with status, wealth, taste, and some political affiliations instead of being utterly utilitarian with almost no connotation beyond thrift and sensibility.

[spywaregorilla]

> So either you live on a anomaly street or your observations don't count much against easily verifiable numbers.

It wouldn't be anomalous at all to see a street that's plurality tesla. Car culture is very local. California is especially tesla heavy.

[avrionov]

I'm a fan of Top Gear, but their mocking of the electric cars was always staged and unfair.

[lmm]

Seemed perfectly fair to me. If the car's range is 200 miles then a consumer-oriented review should point out that the range is a lot shorter than you might expect, and if you have a trusted source for that figure there's nothing to be gained from actually driving it 200 miles to test that point before illustrating it on screen.

[throwawayboise]

Everything on Top Gear is staged. Whether it's unfair depends on your point of view I guess.

[oh_sigh]

It was funny to see the transition gear heads went through with electric vehicles. 15 years ago they loved to race and had a "fastest wins" mindset. But now that their $300k ICE cars are blown out of the water by a $50k consumer car, it's now "your car needs to be LOUD and fast"

[Hamuko]

>But now that their $300k ICE cars are blown out of the water by a $50k consumer car

The Tesla Model 3 Performance goes around the Nordschleife in pretty much the same time as a 2005 Volkswagen Golf GTI. "Blown out of the water" seems a tad bit generous.

[oh_sigh]

Maybe it is just the gearheads in my area of the northeast, but no one drove on tracks and everyone wanted to drag race down the highway after meeting up in a grocery store parking lot late at night.

[simondotau]

Source? Is the Golf GTI stock or modified?

[Hamuko]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3IHb8RFV_g

https://fastestlaps.com/tests/92pk54hhz8sl

You could probably try to push a faster lap out of the Model 3 if you dare. However it seems like the brakes are a bottleneck, so emphasis on the word "dare".

>A total of two laps, less than half of the first lap of the brake alarm temperature is too high, but also can feel the obvious thermal attenuation