Tesla: The Car Maker With The Second Oldest Lineup In The World

We always read sales charts by make and model, the latest car performance, and quality surveys around the world. There is a constant race between automakers from China, the United States, Europe, Japan, Korea, India, Russia, and, more recently, Turkey and Vietnam. However, what about the average of cars offered by these manufacturers?

Based on my research of 705 available models and 30 manufacturers worldwide, not all global market players renew their cars with the same frequency. The analysis, which excludes most Chinese automakers, shows that Tesla is the brand with the second-oldest range among the 27 manufacturers analyzed.

The Methodology

Counting the average age of a car is done by calculating the time difference between today (early December) and the day the production car was officially unveiled, not presented. The calculation excludes facelifts, restyling, and any type of update, other than the introduction of a new generation. Rebadges are also not taken into consideration.

For example, the third-generation Chevrolet Montana, unveiled last week, is the youngest car yet. Opposite is the Lada 4×4, or original Niva, presented in April 1977 and still available.

Lada And Tesla At The Bottom Of The List:

As to be expected, Lada is the automaker with the oldest product range. The average age of this Russian model lineup is 18.9 years. Despite the impetus given in recent years by its former owner Renault, Lada has historically suffered from Russian bureaucracy, lack of innovation, and heavy dependence on the local market.

But surprisingly, Tesla placed second with a 7.8-year average for its four currently available models. We must mention that the Tesla Model S was first unveiled in March 2009, followed by the Model X in September 2015. The most recent product is the Model Y which was unveiled in March 2019, almost 4 years ago.

Tesla is by far the benchmark in the world of electric vehicles and is on track for record sales by the end of this year. But, as I wrote a few months ago (see the June Tesla Model S article), the company isn’t following the industry practice of launching a new generation every 6-8 years. The Model S is quite old, especially when compared to the newer Porsche Taycan, Mercedes EQE, or NIO ET7.

And The Younger Brands?

The Japanese Isuzu and the Chinese Xpeng and NIO lead this ranking. Isuzu has an average of just 2.6 years as its only two passenger cars, the D-Max and MU-X, have recently been refreshed. Xpeng is close enough with four models and NIO with six models available.

Other manufacturers with a young product range include Subaru, Honda, and Hyundai. Among Europeans, McLaren and Ferrari lead, followed by Mercedes-Benz, BMW, and Aston Martin. Stellantis, on the other hand, scores the highest average with 5.5 years.

The author of the article, Felipe Munoz, is an Automotive Industry Specialist at JATO Dynamics.