Tesla had the world's top-selling car for the first time
Elon Musk predicted his midsize SUV would outpace sales of all other vehicles this year back in August 2022.
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- Tesla's Model Y outsold all other vehicles in the first quarter this year.
- That's according to estimates from firm JATO Dynamics, as reported in enthusiast publication Motor1.
- It marks the first time for Elon Musk's automaker and for an EV.
For the first time, an electric car was the top-selling vehicle around the world in the first quarter, and there's no surprise it was a Tesla.
The EV market leader's Model Y outsold all other vehicles in Q1, according to estimates from JATO Dynamics published by the enthusiast publication Motor1. Motor1 reported that JATO compiled data for 53 markets across the globe and estimates for others.
The milestone could be big for a few reasons.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk predicted his midsize SUV would outpace all other vehicles this year back in August 2022.
"You definitely don't want to count chickens until they're hatched. But I think we're tracking to have Model Y be the highest selling vehicle by revenue this year and the highest by unit volume next year," Musk said last year, per a Sentieo transcript of the company's annual shareholders meeting.
Tesla has been caught in consumer crossfires as the company has cut prices of its vehicles, including the Model Y. While the moves have upset existing Tesla owners who are concerned about their resale values also dropping, they have also sparked demand for the vehicles and served as a competitive advantage over rival EV-makers.
Tracing exact sales totals by nameplate is challenging for a variety of reasons, but Sam Fiorani, vice president of global vehicle forecasting at AutoForecast Solutions, said "taking production into consideration, the Tesla Model Y easily passed the Toyota Corolla and Toyota Hilux as the highest production nameplate in the world in the first quarter."
According to JATO and Motor1, this is how the estimates stack up:
| Vehicle model | Q1 Global Sales |
| Tesla Model Y | 267,200 |
| Toyota Corolla/Levin/Allion/Lingshang across body-types | 256,400 |
| Toyota Hilux | 214,700 |
| Toyota RAV4/Wildlander | 211,000 |
| Toyota Camry | 166,200 |