According to new vehicle registration data from Experian, Tesla’s Model Y was the bestselling electric vehicle in the United States for 2021, with the company’s Model 3 right behind in second place, reports Automotive News.
Here are the ranked EV registration numbers in the U.S. for 2021, according to Experian:
California led EV registrations in 2021 with 169,995, an 80% increase versus 2020. Texas, home of Tesla’s new headquarters, saw 28,818 EV registrations, more than double growth year-over-year.
It was just yesterday we learned Tesla’s Model Y surged to the number two car sales spot in California, beating the Honda Civic, Toyota RAV4 and just trailing slightly behind the latter’s Camry.
While recent sales data showed Tesla was set to beat BMW in luxury car sales for 2021, that wasn’t exactly the case. New data from Experian says BMW held onto that title just barely, with Tesla in second, followed by Lexus and Mercedes-Benz.
BMW saw 347,453 new cars registered in the U.S. for 2021, while Tesla had 342,412, edged out by the German company by just 5,041 vehicles. Tesla registrations increased a staggering 71% year-over-year, whereas BMW only saw a 24% increase in the same timeframe. The numbers suggest Tesla will likely fare better in 2022 as it handles the global chip shortage better than legacy automakers.
The claim by Experian is in contrast to Cox Automotive data from last month, which noted Tesla had beat BMW for the 2021 luxury sales crown.
But looking at registration and sales data isn’t perfect when comparing apples to apples.
“When the numbers are close, it’s hard to declare a winner when you aren’t always comparing apples to apples,” said Jessica Caldwell, executive director of insights at Edmunds, noting registration data is useful when carmakers don’t share fleet sales, such as in Tesla’s case (Model 3 and Model Y sales numbers are detailed as combined by the automaker).
Tesla CEO Elon Musk said in October 2021 the Model Y would soon become the best-selling vehicle of any kind, globally. With upcoming Gigafactories in Texas and Germany set to open soon, this looks to become reality sooner rather than later.
