Tesla's Model 3 and Y are most common luxury cars in line for U.S. auto loans

Some of Tesla's electric vehicles were the most common cars seeking auto loans in the U.S., as shown by a new study.

Above: A Tesla Model 3 in red and a Model Y in gray. Photo: Tesla

Online lending marketplace LendingTree shared a new study on auto loan data last month, combining inquiries gathered for around two years from the platform. The study shows that electric carmaker Tesla is quickly reaching the top of the charts when it comes to people inquiring about automotive loans online.

When this data was analyzed for specific luxury car models, the Tesla Model 3 and Model Y topped the chart, landing the first and second positions, respectively. Interestingly, the Tesla Model S also found its place among the top 10, landing in the sixth position (see chart below).

Above: Top 10 luxury cars that people search about auto loan options on LendingTree.com. Source: LendingTree; Analysis spanning two years from July 2020 to June 2022)

With 6.6 percent of all the inquiries made for luxury cars, Tesla Model 3 has the largest share of auto loan queries made on the LendingTree platform. Its closest competitor is Tesla’s own Model Y electric SUV with a 4.7 percent stake.

The BMW 3 Series is in the third position with a 4.3 percent share for luxury car inquiries made on LendingTree over the last two years. The BMW 5 Series scored 2.2 percent and the BMW X5 did 1.7 percent. The total for BMW on the Top 10 chart is 8.2 percent.

With the Model S occupying a 1.9 percent share of the search for luxury cars in the United States, Tesla holds a total of 13.2 percent share of this interest.

LendingTree found that one in five auto loan inquiries in the U.S. is for luxury cars. In metros like San Jose, San Francisco and Los Angeles, the percentage is even higher and Tesla seems to hold the crown in this segment as well with a promising future.

"Specifically, San Jose, Calif., ranks highest. Nearly 4 in 10 (39.5%) of the auto loan inquiries in the metro are for luxury cars. Following that, San Francisco ranks second (39.4%), with Los Angeles (38.4%) third."

Study by LendingTree

The analysis also detailed states with the highest percentage of luxury auto loan queries. Although one might easily guess California would have the most luxury inquiries, it was actually the District of Columbia with 35.5 percent, while California had just 32.4 percent to land in second.

Above: Top 10 US states with the most inquiries for luxury cars on the LendingTree platform (Source: Data analysis by LendingTree spanning 2 years, from July 2020 to June 2022).

LendingTree.com is one of the most widely-used platforms that potential car buyers use to search for auto loan options. On average, it has around 7.5 million visitors every month who are looking for cars and other loans online.

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Sources: Lending Tree / similarweb.com

Written by: Iqtidar Ali. An earlier version of this article was originally published by Tesla Oracle. Revised update edited by EVANNEX.