Soon after it was revealed that the Tesla Model Y was the world’s best-selling new car for the first quarter of this year, data from JATO Dynamics has confirmed that a key reason behind its success is strong sales in China.
In fact, of the record 267,171 Model Ys that were delivered around the world in the first three months of 2023, 94,469 of them were sold in China. That’s an especially impressive figure given how many new EVs are being launched by Chinese car manufacturers, many of which undercut the Model Y on price.
The Model Y’s second best-selling region was the United States where some 83,664 examples found new homes. In third was Europe with 71,114 sales.
Read: Move Over Toyota Corolla, Tesla’s Model Y Is The World’s Best Selling Car In Q1 2023
Overall, the United States remains the largest and most important market for Tesla but was followed closely behind by China in second. The next largest markets for Tesla are Germany, the UK, and France. Speaking with Reuters, JATO senior analyst Felipe Munoz said he expects the Model Y to remain the world’s top-selling car throughout the rest of 2023 thanks in part to aggressive price cuts made in the first few months of the year.
In addition, sales of the Model Y should be helped by a ramp-up in production at Tesla’s factories in Texas and Berlin as well as the easing of supply chain issues.
Dan Levy, an analyst from Barclays, has raised concerns that Tesla is too reliant on sales of the Model 3 and Model Y and believes the brand would be well served to add new models and variants. One way it will do this is with the introduction of the Tesla Cybertruck and if reports about more than 1 million pre-orders being placed for it are true, it should help significantly boost Tesla’s delivery figures for the next few years.
