Photo: Tesla
The Tesla Model Y has ascended to the position of Europe’s top-selling car in June 2023, outperforming renowned mass-market combustion engine cars such as the Dacia Sandero and Volkswagen T-Roc.
According to Dataforce, a market researcher, this premium midsize SUV was also the highest seller in the region for the first half of 2023, marking the first instance for a Tesla model or a battery-electric car to be the best-seller in Europe over six months, reports Automotive News Europe.
The Model Y eclipsed the Dacia Sandero small hatchback, the second-best seller, by almost 7,000 sales in both June and the first half of the year. Sales of the Model Y tripled to 125,144 from 40,147 during the same period in the previous year.
The sales growth of the Model Y, however, was not consistent. While the SUV started the year at 17th position among Europe’s best-selling cars with 6,889 units sold in January, by February, it climbed to the top spot for the first time with 18,153 units sold. March saw a 140% surge in Model Y sales, outdoing its closest competitor, the Opel/Vauxhall Corsa, by more than 20,000 units.
Despite the sales growth hitting a slight snag in April and May, the Model Y bounced back in June with sales reaching 29,765, marking its second-best month after March.
Meanwhile, Tesla’s Model 3 sedan saw a significant rebound in sales in June, with volume rising 115% to 12,693 units, outstripping the sales growth of the Model Y for the first time this year. However, over the first half of the year, the Model 3’s volume remained steady at 38,843 units, ranking it 50th on Europe’s list of top sellers after six months.
Tesla is offering European Model Y customers two exclusive colors from Giga Berlin: Quicksilver and Midnight Cherry Red.
The sales boost of the Model Y and Model 3 together accounted for one-third of the total increase in battery-electric car sales, which rose by 45% to 853,720 units from January to June. This growth comes in the wake of Tesla’s aggressive price cuts in various global markets, including Europe, the U.S., and China since January.
