Tesla’s Model Y has proved so popular it looks set to take on the rest of the auto world. Elon Musk, Tesla CEO, has claimed that in terms of revenue the Model Y will be the world’s best-selling vehicle this year.
Musk also went on to say that in terms of sales he believes Model Y will become the best selling car in the world by 2023. These are huge claims but he could well be right because the Model Y has been extremely popular since it hit the market in 2020.
The Model Y electric sports utility vehicle (SUV) is a larger family car delivering both performance and practicality in one package and is offered in two model variations. The five-seater Performance version is a dual-motor all-wheel drive that offers up to 303 miles (488km). It’s no slug either, accelerating 0-97mph (0-100kph) in just three and half seconds, with a top speed of 155mph (250kph).
The second version, the Long Range AWD model, is a larger seven-seater family car with three rows of seats. As the name suggests, this all-wheel-drive electric vehicle (EV) offers a longer range of 330 miles (531km). It has a top speed of 135mph (217kph) and can hit 0-60mph (0-97kph) in 4.8 seconds.
With specifications like this, it’s no wonder the Model Y has proved so popular. At Tesla’s recent annual shareholder’s meeting yesterday, Musk made the bold announcement that the Tesla Model Y will be a world leader, especially once Tesla ramps up production at its Gigafactories in Berlin and Texas.
The best-selling car in the world is currently Toyota’s Corolla, with 1,150,000 sales in 2021. With the Model Y selling for up to triple that of Toyota’s Corolla, it’s highly likely that Musk is correct and the Model Y will exceed Corolla in both revenue and gross profit this year.
In terms of Tesla’s sales, the company doesn’t provide separate results for the Model 3 and Model Y. They have said that the Model Y’s sales now outnumber the Model 3 and last year Telsa delivered 911,242 Model 3 and Model Y electric cars. They currently claim they have a capacity of 300,000 per quarter of these models.
Musk’s claim of the Model Y being the best seller in the world could be a tougher one to achieve but by no means impossible with the capacity mentioned above. James Carter, mobility specialist and influencer, has looked at this in more detail.
Carter believes that with new competition coming in, also with a strong volume ramp, it might be harder than Tesla thinks. Supply chain constraints may also tap out any continued ambitious rises too.
James Carter, mobility specialist and influencer, said: “I imagine it will require a significant pricing realign versus today’s MSRP, as well as the introduction of lower cost models and the reintroduction of US tax credits for Tesla.
“The bottom line is that Tesla can’t keep expanding volume by 50-100 percent annually forever. There will be a time when the brand matures, and volume growth levels to three to five percent per annum like every other OEM.
“However, just to consider that Model Y could be the world’s number one selling vehicle is extraordinary, and something that would seem an impossibility just two years ago.”
The bottom line is that Musk’s claim could well be right. It will be an incredible feat for an electric vehicle to become the best-selling car in the world so soon and shows where the future lies.
