Tesla Model Y is the most popular car in the world

Last year, Tesla delivered 13,758 copies of the Model Y in the Netherlands. This made it by far the most popular new car in our country. Preliminary figures collected by Dataforce show that the Tesla Model Y was most likely also the most popular new car in Europe last year. As if that weren’t enough, the Model Y seems to be winning another title. That may be even more important for Tesla.

Data analyst Jato Dynamics keeps a close eye on global new car registration figures. Although the figures for a handful of countries are still missing, it dares to lump together the figures it does have and draw a conclusion from them. The Tesla Model Y was very likely to be the most popular new car in the world in 2023, it claims. According to Jato Dynamics, the missing figures are unlikely to change anything.

According to preliminary figures, no fewer than 1.23 million Tesla Model Ys were registered worldwide last year, 64 percent more than in 2022. Only in China did Tesla deliver a staggering number of more than 456,000 Model Ys in 2023. This means that the bestseller dethrones the Toyota RAV4. 1.02 million units of this SUV were delivered in 2022. This gave the RAV4 the first position that year. According to Jato’s preliminary figures, 1.07 million RAV4s will be registered in 2023. More than in 2022, but not enough for first place, although the Japanese is still expected to finish in a very respectable second place. The Toyota Corolla is at number three with 1.01 million units delivered.

Small detail: the RAV4 figures also include the Wildlander, a RAV4 with a slightly different design that is supplied in China by the GAC-Toyota partnership. The figures for the Corolla also include the Levin and the Lingshang. These are in fact also ‘normal’ Corollas with a slightly different sauce.