For the first time since 2019, Teslas are back in stock at CarMax ($KMX) — and in a big way.
Back in 2019, Teslas ($TSLA) went from having a scant presence on the used car marketplace to no presence at all, dwindling down from 17 Teslas listed in February to none at all by September. You couldn’t even find “Tesla” as a make available on the site.
Back then, the Business of Business had a back and forth with CarMax on why the vehicles had suddenly disappeared from its catalog. Its answer changed a few times, but ultimately settled on some version of “there just aren’t any used Teslas on the market” even though Teslas have been on the road since 2013 and were appearing on other sites at the time. Still, that drought persisted for a year and a half; while other makes were available on CarMax during that period, not a single Tesla could be found.
Until now. After a year-and-a-half-long absence, more Teslas are now available on Carmax’s website than in the service’s history. The first listings appeared earlier this year in February, and by May the number of available Teslas had exceeded the previous all-time high of 17 in February 2019. Just last week, listings peaked at 49.
That’s still extremely low in comparison to other makes available on CarMax — there are currently 859 BMWs and 2,510 Nissans available, just to name two brands — but it’s still a record high for the service which has been cagey about dealing with Teslas specifically.
The average price of an electric vehicle on CarMax has increased 98% year-over-year, now standing at approximately $27,400. In that time, electric vehicles have taken over the automobile industry, with startups and legacy manufacturers alike racing to get competitors — luxury or standard — on the market as soon as possible (some of those efforts have gone better than others). GM has promised to release 30 new electric vehicles by 2025, just to name one of the major manufacturers betting big on an electric future. Electric vehicle charging stations are increasingly prevalent across the country, too, and President Biden has publicly voiced support for increasing their presence across the country.
Maybe the growing presence of electric vehicles made it so that CarMax simply couldn’t ignore Tesla any longer. Either way, the number of Teslas available on its service is beginning to hockey stick, and it may not be long before the era of CarMax’s Tesla abstinence is a barely visible blip on the chart.
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