• Tesla’s Model Y SUV was the world’s best-selling car in 2023.
  • Sales grew 64 percent to 1.22 million units, taking Model Y past the second-place Toyota RAV4.
  • Honda’s CR-V bagged third spot, while the Toyota Corolla and Corolla Cross came home fourth and fifth.

Tesla is already hurting from a first-quarter sales downturn and this week, just to rub salt in the wound, comes a reminder of how much better things were last year. New figures confirm that the Model Y shifted 1.22 million units in 2023, making it the world’s best-selling car.

Not best-selling electric car, or best-selling car in one country or continent, but best-selling passenger vehicle, period. Yes, it even outperformed giants like the Toyota RAV4 and Corolla thanks to sales climbing 64 percent over delivery numbers in 2022.

Related: Tesla Model Y Crowned Europe’s 2023 Sales Champ, Only EV In Top 30

And the Model Y managed this feat without making so much as a dent in developing countries, where it’s considered too expensive, underlining how much of an impact Tesla’s compact SUV has had on developed markets. Figures released earlier in the year had already proven that the Model Y was the best-selling car in Europe in 2023. 

Total Model Y sales came to 1,223,000, according to Jato data, putting it comfortably ahead of the 2022 champ, Toyota’s RAV4 (1.075 million), third-place Honda CR-V (846,000), fourth-place Toyota Corolla (803,000), and the Toyota Corolla Cross (715,000), which nabbed fifth.

Another Toyota, the Camry, took sixth spot, Ford’s perennially popular F-150 hauled its way to seventh, just ahead of the Toyota Hilux, and Nissan’s Sentra beat out the Tesla Model 3 for ninth.

PositionVehicleSales% Change vs ’22
1Tesla Model Y1,223,000+64
2Toyota RAV41,075,000-5
3Honda CR-V846,000+18
4Toyota Corolla803,000-19
5Toyota Corolla Cross715,000+35
6Toyota Camry650,000-2
7Ford F-150623,000+18
8Toyota Hilux605,000-4
9Nissan Sentra534,000-1
10Tesla Model 3508,000+5
11Honda Civic478,000+22
12BYD Qin473,000+43
13Nissan X-Trail/Rogue461,000+80
14Honda Accord451,000-7
15Hyundai Tucson423,000+25
16Chevy Silverado 1500412,000+9
17Hyundai Elantra399,000+5
18Ram 1500374,000-6
19BYD Song Plus369,000+9
20VW Polo364,000+56
21VW Jetta361,000+29
22Mazda CX-5356,000-2
23BYD Atto 3355,000+119
24Suzuki Swift354,000+6
25Honda HR-V336,000-27
Data: Jato
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Toyota held an incredible five spots in the top 25, more than any other automaker, but in a sign of things to come, China’s BYD bagged three places. Its best-performing vehicle was the Qin compact sedan, which came in 12th.

Worryingly for Europe and America’s big car brands, they’re almost nowhere to be found. The entire VW Group took just two spots in the top 25 list, and they went to the Polo and Jetta way down in 20th and 21st, while GM and Stellantis scored just one spot each, the Chevy Silverado coming home in 16th, two rungs higher than the Ram 1500.

Jato’s figures also confirmed that the growth in the SUV market shows no sign of slowing. SUV volumes increased by 16 percent, helped in part by the success of the Tesla Model Y, and accounted for almost 47 percent of all registrations in 2023.