History: for the first time an electric car is the best-selling model in the world

Until the day when the electric car would become the best-selling model in the world. What seemed like a utopia a few years ago is now a reality according to JATO Dynamics, an entity that released the first quarter 2023 sales report with the Tesla Model Y at the top of the ranking.

The Model Y’s assault on the top spot surprised the world, but not the founder of the California-based company.

Last year, at Tesla’s annual shareholders meeting, Elon Musk announced that the Model Y would become the best-selling car in the world.

It sounded like one of the executive’s many aggressive phrases and surely many smiled at his optimistic outlook, despite the company’s electric vehicle starting to appear in the top selling spots.

Without going any further, the Model Y became the third best-selling model in the world last year, only surpassed by the Toyota RAV4 and the Toyota Corolla.

The JATO Dynamics report says that based on data from 152 markets, Tesla sold 747,500 Model Y units in 2022, which is also a 91% increase from 2021.

With this level of growth, it didn’t take long for the Tesla CEO’s promise to materialize.

Information compiled by Jato Dynamics, the largest automotive market data provider, indicates that in the first quarter of 2023, the Tesla Model Y sold 267,200 units, which represents an increase of almost 69% compared to the same period last year.

The growth is explained by the strength of the Model Y in China, its main market, where it placed 35% of the total, to which is added the strength it took in the United States, where it grew by 68% . As if that were not enough, in Europe it became the best-selling vehicle of this period, with an increase of 173% compared to the same year in 2022.

The rise to the top of the Model Y has its internal counterpart, as the rise produced a drop in sales of the Model 3, which caused its registrations to drop by 40% during the first quarter of 2023, according to the Jato Dynamics report.

Toyota, though it dropped out of the top spot, retained the rest of the top five, followed by the Corolla. Counting all its releases, it recorded a sale of 256,400 units, a figure that shows a slight drop that is explained by a 29% drop in China and a 10% drop in the United States.

The Japanese brand also saw the good performance of the Hilux, a truck that closed the podium of the best-selling models in the first quarter of 2023.

According to Jato Dynamics, the pickup’s strength is in the Southeast Asia-Pacific region, where it places 32% of the total. And Latin America is not out of place, delivering 15% of the truck’s total sales, a figure to which Chile contributes significantly, without going any further, in our country the Hilux was the third most sold in the first quarter .

Fourth place overall was the Toyota RAV4. The C-segment SUV – includes hybrid and combustion versions – was fourth with 211,000 units between January and March this year. Of this total, 40% was marketed in China and 23% in the United States.

The closing of the top five was the Toyota Camry. The brand’s most luxurious sedan sold 166,200 units in the first quarter worldwide, with China and the United States also being its main markets.

The model that broke history and brought electric cars to the top of global sales is the Tesla Model Y.

It arrived on the market in 2021, as a more familiar option than the Model 3, since it can be requested with a third row and thus increase capacity to seven passengers. Plus, each second-row seat can fold flat independently.

In terms of safety, it meets the highest standards, in fact, it has obtained a 5-star safety rating from the NHTSA, to which has been added the IIHS Top Safety Pick+ with the highest marks in the categories of resistance to collisions and frontal impact prevention.

As for the versions, it is offered with three alternatives and the brand specifies that recharging up to 261 km can be done in just 15 minutes with the Superchargers that the brand has distributed in different cities around the world.

The Model Y entry unit has a motor on the rear axle and has a range of 430 km, with a 0-100 km/h step in 6.9 seconds and a top speed of 217 km /h.

Then the version with greater autonomy is installed. In this case, it has two motors that work independently (one on each axis) and digitally control the power to the front and rear wheels. With AWD traction, it can cover 533 km according to the WLTP cycle and goes from 0 to 100 km/h in 5 seconds.

Finally, at the top of the range, the Performance version. It also has a dual motor, but in this case it goes from 0 to 100 km/h in just 3.7 seconds and is capable of going up to 514 km/h. In addition, it has a track mode, with different wheels, tires and brakes, plus special competition software.