Tesla just had its best sales year ever, beating its sales target and delivering more than 484,000 vehicles in the fourth quarter. Despite that success, the company fell behind Chinese automaker BYD for the first time.
The Tesla Model 3 and Model Y were the runaway sales leaders in the fourth quarter, combining for more than 460,000 units. Tesla lumps the Model S and X together in an “other models” category, which sold just shy of 23,000 units in Q4. The Cybertruck falls into the catch-all category, too, but there were only a handful of deliveries last year.
Tesla delivered more than 1.8 million cars last year out of the 1,845,985 it built, again dominated by the Model 3 and Model Y. The Cybertruck dropped in late November 2023, but the automaker only managed a small number of deliveries. That said, there have been reports of a production ramp-up, with several dozen trucks awaiting deliveries outside Tesla’s Gigafactory in Texas.
While Tesla enjoyed the top EV sales spot for a long time, Chinese automakers have rapidly gained ground. BYD surpassed Tesla, but GAC Aion and SAIC-GM-Wiling are not far behind. Volkswagen, Hyundai, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Kia, and Audi also picked up steam in 2023. Tesla may retake the top spot if it can pull off the affordable model that many have expected for a while, but there has been no solid movement toward a release or announcement on that front.
[Image: Tesla]
Become a TTAC insider. Get the latest news, features, TTAC takes, and everything else that gets to the truth about cars first by subscribing to our newsletter.
