Just how big can Tesla get? Unstoppable Musk monsters BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Lexus in US sales race

Tesla's booming popularity shows now signs of slowing down, with the latest registration data showing Elon Musk's EV brand out-performed mainstream premium players like BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Lexus so far this year.

According to US site Automotive News - using data from Experian - Tesla's US registrations board 49 per cent year-on-year in January, to a whopping 37,162.

That's enough to topple former marker leader BMW, who recorded 30,563 sales, as well as Lexus (24,843 sales) and Mercedes-Benz (22,022).

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Perhaps more worrying for the traditional car makers, both Lexus and Mercedes-Benz reported declining registrations, while BMW's rose by 8.2 per cent in January. Tesla, however, reported and increase of almost 50 per cent.

It must be pointed out here that the data tracked registrations, not sales, meaning some vehicles counted might have been sold in earlier months. But it still shows a skyward trend for Tesla.

In Australia, the numbers aren't quite so high, but the trajectory is no less impressive, despite ballooning wait times.

As reported by CarsGuide, the wait time window for a Model 3 was just one to three weeks in October, but is now blown out to between six and nine months, as popularity and supply chain issues bite.

In 2021, Tesla sold 12,094 examples of its Model 3. To put that into perspective, the second best selling EV in Australia last year was the MG ZS EV, with 1388 sales.

That's enough to see the Tesla Model 3 comprehensively outsell the BMW 3-Series and 4-Series, the Mercedes-Benz C-Class and CLA-Class, and the entire Lexus product portfolio. With one model.

So how big can Tesla get? Watch this space.