Tesla projects its electric crossover car, the Model Y, to become the world’s best-selling car by 2023, a first for Tesla and an electric vehicle.
That’s what Tesla CEO Elon Musk said on an investor call in mid-May.
The Model Y was already the fourth best-selling car worldwide in 2022, with 759,000 units sold. Ahead were the Ford F150 (786,000 units sold), the Toyota Rav4 (871,000 units sold) and the Toyota Corolla (1.12 million units sold).
Tesla made 440,000 cars in the first quarter of 2023, up 36% from 2022. The company says it sold 422,000 Model 3 and Model Y cars.
While it’s unclear how those numbers are distributed between the two models, the more expensive Model Y tends to outsell the cheaper Model 3.
Tesla’s leadership in the field is evident from the first quarter sales figures of BYD, which sold 267,800 electric cars, and Volkswagen, which sold 140,000.
The Model Y was the best-selling car in Europe in the first quarter of 2023, the best-selling crossover car in China and the best-selling non-truck car in the US.
In Israel, deliveries of a discounted Model Y should begin soon, but with a price tag of 224,000 NIS, which is 40% more than the best-selling car of the year, the electric BYD Auto 3. Therefore, it is doubtful. that the Model Y will take off in Israel as the Model 3 did when it arrived.
What are the next Tesla cars?
Musk also said that Tesla is now working on two new models, of which it expects to sell a total of 5 million copies each year. He didn’t elaborate, showing only a silhouette of what appears to be the low-cost model the company already confirmed it was working on, which appears to be a crossover or hatchback.
Some estimates say that this will be Tesla’s answer to the Volkswagen ID.2 and its versions for Skoda, which will be launched in 2025 and should cost less than $25,000.
Musk also did not provide a timetable or other details.
One of the models may be for the Model 3 Project Highland, the code name for the electric sedan. This model should benefit from a more efficient production process, which would allow them to lower prices.
Musk also said that production of the Cybertruck will begin soon and that he plans to use it as a car.
Tesla also shed light on its production process, exploiting the industry standard production process of connecting all the parts to the car and working on them one by one is expensive and slow. Tesla’s production method will be implemented at its new Mexico factor, which will be worked on individual parts before being attached to the car once it is complete. This should be faster, but will require more workers and robots.
