CarsDirect Cross Shop Top 5: 2013 Tesla Model S

For better or for worse, the 2013 Tesla Model S has been all over the news lately. The striking electric vehicle has been a crowd pleaser. You have current owners raving about their experiences and some calling it the future of the passenger car in the United States while a select few write off the Model S as an expensive flash-in-the-pan that doesn’t solve range anxiety despite a rapidly growing network of supercharger stations.

As EV options grow, so does the debate over which solution is ideal for American drivers. Some argue that traditional gas-electric hybrids like the Ford C-Max or Toyota Prius are the best compromise between gas and electric. Others say plug-in hybrids like the Chevrolet Volt or upcoming Ford Fusion Energi and Cadillac ELR are better. And still others argue that pure electrics like the Model S, Fisker Karma, or the more budget-minded Nissan Leaf are the way forward.

We wanted to see what goes through car shoppers’ minds when shopping electric vehicle options. To do so, we used exclusive CarsDirect cross-shopping data from the past three months to take a look at the top five vehicles cross-shopped against the 2013 Tesla Model S.

(The percentages refer to the percentage of total Model shoppers who also cross-shopped the alternate models listed. For example, 12.2% of buyers who shopped a Model S also shopped a Fisker Karma.)

Fisker Karma: 8.3%

Honda Accord: 7.5%

Nissan Leaf: 5.7%

Nissan Altima: 5%

Chevrolet Volt: 4.7%

Want custom cross-shopping data for your vehicles? Contact us at 866.852.3784 or connect@carsdirect.com.