In the third quarter of 2023, the Tesla Model Y surpassed two million total sales, CleanTechnica reported.
According to CleanTechnica's estimate, the Model Y has sold 2.16 million of the vehicle since its release in 2020. That places it just barely behind its predecessor, the Model 3, at 2.2 million lifetime sales. It even blows past the Tesla Cybertruck's presale numbers, which were at 1.5 million earlier this year — and actual sales numbers are expected to be lower than presales.
The Model Y is not likely to stop there, either. As CleanTechnica's Zachary Shahan said, "The Model Y should surpass the Model 3 in this quarter to become the best selling electric vehicle of all time. And good luck to anyone who tries to catch it! My prediction is that the Model Y is going to hold onto that record for a long time."
If that's the case, then the Model Y will have reached those record sales numbers in roughly half the time the Model 3 did. The Model Y came out in 2020, and the Model 3 came out in 2017. That performance would be tough to beat.
But not impossible. Thanks to advances in electric vehicle technology and recent actions by the Environmental Protection Agency, EV sales are expected to boom in the next decade, potentially reaching 10 times the current numbers. Any EV being released in the next few years could see a surge of popularity that might carry it into first place.
Either way, these sales numbers are encouraging. Drivers who switch to EVs save a whole lot of money, while the cars themselves are less polluting than gas-powered vehicles. They don't produce heat-trapping gases, so they're part of the solution to our overheating planet.
Those factors are likely to keep driving the Model Y's popularity. "One thing we can assume as well," Shahan said, "it won't take the Model Y another 3½ years to sell another 2 million units."
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