Despite disappointing revenue and sales numbers from Tesla in the third quarter, the automaker’s electric SUV is climbing sales leaderboards — and surpassing some surprising model names on the way up.
Although Tesla doesn’t report specific sales numbers for its different models, Bloomberg’s research arm estimates that the automaker sold roughly 200,000 Model Y units in Q3.
This figure would bring the year’s total Model Y units sold to over 500,000, placing it on track to hit the publication’s estimate of 800,000 by the end of the year.
If the Tesla Model Y reaches the target, this would place the electric SUV among the top five best-selling vehicles worldwide, regardless of electric of gas.
2023 Tesla Model Y Production Started This Week, Available as Existing Inventory https://t.co/uqDABfTNhX
— TeslaNorth.com (@RealTeslaNorth) October 19, 2022
As one example of a household name the Model Y is likely to surpass, Ford sold 562,000 F-150 pickups throughout all of 2021. Still, Ford’s F-150 trucks are only available in North America, while Tesla’s Model Y is available in several countries throughout the world.
Moving upward in the leaderboards, the Honda HR-V, Toyota Camry and Nissan Sentra all sold more than 700,000 units last year, which Tesla could surpass with its Model Y by the end of the year.
Last year’s top-selling models were the Honda CR-V, the Toyota Corolla and RAV-4. It would be unlikely for the Model Y to outsell these three in 2022, though it’s certainly not out of the realm of possibility with new factories Giga Texas and Giga Berlin now ramping up their production numbers.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk previously said the Model Y was on track to become the best-selling vehicle globally, and that seems likely at this point given the compact crossover SUV’s meteoric rise. Model Y sales already beat the Volkswagen Golf for the first time in the latter’s home nation of Germany.
