Best Selling Car in the World is an EV

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Tesla is Number One

Monitoring over 160 countries, the top global sales leader so far this year goes to Elon Musk's SUV. Back in August of 2022, Tesla's CEO announced during a shareholder meeting that the Model Y would become the best-selling new vehicle in the world in 2023. That boast seemed overly optimistic at the time given the Model Y's MSRP of $52,630. But price cuts by the automaker and the company's hard charging worldwide expansion led to more units sold. We're talking about an 85 percent increase in sales over 2022 with a total of 427,524 Model Y units sold so far this year.
 
The tempting Tesla is currently ranked as the number one best seller in both the first and second quarter of 2023, beating out the perennial favorite Toyota Corolla by a slim margin. Will the EV hold its lead for the rest of the year? Only time, and sales, will tell.
2022 Best Sellers
Based on sales to 162 countries, last year in 2022 the world's best-selling vehicle was the Toyota Corolla with 1.12 million sold. Toyota's RAV4 was in second place with 868,309 reported sales, making it the world's most popular SUV. Ford's hugely popular F-Series pickup trucks took third place with 786,337 sold and Tesla's Model Y was in fourth place in 2022 with 759,579 units sold.
2023 Q1 Numbers
In Q1 of 2023, the Model Y sold 267,000 units while the Corolla came in second at 256,400 units sold. Though the Model Y was on the upswing in China, the Corolla dropped in sales by 29 percent. In Europe, the Corolla has never cracked the top 10 in best sales while the Model Y was a top seller. Here in America, the Model Y was up in sales by 68 percent while the Corolla dropped by 10 percent.
2023 Top 10 Sales So Far
The most up-to-date rankings available tell us that the Tesla Model Y is holding on to its lead, up an astounding 85.3 percent over last year's sales worldwide, while the Toyota Corolla is down 7.4 percent year over year. The data in this article is based on auto registrations in 162 countries around the globe. In the list of Top 100 Best Selling Vehicles, EV models seem to be making their way up the rankings as more consumers are switching to plug-in hybrid and all-electric models.

#1. 
According to the combined data, the Tesla Model Y rose nine spots in 2023 to become the number one best-selling car in the world with 427,524 units sold so far.
 
#2. 
The Toyota Corolla moved down to second place, with current sales of 410,732. The Corolla is down 6.6 percent over last year's sales numbers.
 
#3. 
The Ford F-Series pickup trucks are in third place with 358,945 units sold so far this year. Year-over-year growth is up 24.6 percent for America's favorite truck.
 
#4.
The excellent Toyota RAV4 dropped two spots to fourth place this year with 324,061 units sold thus far. That's a 11.1 percent drop from last year's sales period.
 
#5. 
The Chevrolet Silverado pickup truck has moved up a spot over last year, taking fifth place with 252,545 units sold.
#6.
The Honda CR-V crossover is in sixth place with 249,184 new registrations so far this year.
 
#7. 
The Hyundai Tucson crossover SUV gains four spots to come in seventh so far in 2023 with 245,863 units sold.
 
#8. 
The ever-reliable Toyota Camry sedan takes eighth place with 245,066 units sold in 2023.
 
#9.
The Toyota Hilux pickup truck is well known around the world but in North America it is just called the SR5 pickup truck. It has brought in sales of 231,784 units so far.
 
#10.
We round out the current 2023 Top 10 Best Selling vehicles worldwide with another Tesla EV. Down seven spots this year, the Model 3 has brought in 226,049 units sold.
Stay Tuned
As you can see, Toyota is holding its own in sales all across the globe. But when it comes to predicting future sales, the automotive industry is a volatile rollercoaster ride, and you never know which way it might twist and turn. Will Tesla hold on to the top spot?

While this top 10 list of best-selling cars worldwide offers some revealing clues of how the remaining six months of 2023 might go, the final sales figures for these vehicles is anyone's guess. Stay tuned right here at Lithia Motors for updates on units sold throughout the remainder of the year.