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A series of radical price cuts has helped the Tesla Model Y’s sales numbers in 2023.
Worldwide interest in electric vehicles continues to surge, with fresh numbers indicating that for the first time in history a pure plug-in could be the most popular car on the planet over the course of a calendar year.
Industry analytics company JATO has released its global new car sales data from the first quarter of 2023, showing that Tesla’s Model Y is the current world leader in sales volume.
According to the data firm, some 267,200 Model Ys were sold in Q1 of this year, seeing the EV edge the ever present Toyota Corolla (256,400), Toyota Hilux (214,700), Toyota RAV4 (211,000), and Toyota Camry (166,200).
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JATO’s figures stem from data collected from 53 different markets, combined with forecasts for 31 other markets, and estimates for the rest of the world.
Model Y sales are reportedly up 69% year-on-year relative to Q1 of 2022. There are all manner of potential reasons for this growth, including a cooling of Covid-19 regulations in Shanghai and the increased interest in EVs.
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The Model Y has also likely benefited from the erratic price cuts rolled out by Tesla CEO Elon Musk at the beginning of the year. In New Zealand, Model Y prices were cut in January, February, and April, before copping a mild increase earlier this month.
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The Model Y is currently second to the BYD Atto 3, in terms of local EV registrations in 2023.
It remains to be seen whether Tesla will be able to keep the momentum going for the full calendar year.
The strong result is a feather in the cap for Musk. The chief executive told Tesla shareholders in August of last year that he predicted the Model Y would be the world’s best-selling car in 2023.
The result makes for an interesting comparison with JATO’s sales data charts from the full year of 2022. Released at the start of this month, the data showed the Toyota RAV4 was the best-selling new car last year, with 1,016,000 sales, leading the Corolla.
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The Toyota RAV4 was the best-selling car in the world last year, despite the brand’s supply struggles.
The Model Y was third with 747,000 sales. If Tesla can repeat its Q1 performance across the balance of 2023, it could eclipse the RAV4’s 2022 achievements.
Toyota’s success should not be seen as much of a surprise, given that the brand entered 2023 with plenty of momentum having achieved record deliveries in 2022 in spite of ongoing supply shortages and Covid-19-related temporary factory shutdowns.
Ironically, whilst the Model Y is a popular seller in New Zealand, it is not currently the best-selling EV locally. Across Q1 at least, that title has gone to the similarly sized BYD Atto 3.
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