Tesla Sales Rise To New Heights — It’s All About The Y! (Charts & Graphs)

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Tesla continued its upward rise in the 4th quarter of 2023, reaching yet another quarterly record for the brand. Its 484,507 sales (registrations) were higher than the 466,140 sales of the 2nd quarter, Tesla’s previous record. (As a reminder, 3rd quarter sales were down due to Tesla revamping some of its production lines for the new version of the Tesla Model 3.)

Depending on which chart or graph you look at (see below), you have to notice one thing about the company’s growth: it’s built on the Model Y’s growth. Let’s look at one chart and one graph.

As you can see in the bar chart, Tesla Model 3 sales are fairly stable, while Model S and Model X sales (and now Cybertruck sales) are quite negligible. In the middle, the Model Y bar got larger and larger and ended up dominating Tesla quarterly sales, including in the 4th quarter. The line graph probably shows this even better, as the Model Y’s sales line just grows and grows and grows.

This raises a question or concern, though. What happens if (when) Model Y sales stop rising like that? The Model Y is already punching well above its weight — getting far more sales than other models in its price class (electric or otherwise). In fact, the Model Y was sure to be the best selling model of any kind in 2023. It can score only so many sales at its price point, just like any other model, but where is that upper limit? Can its quarterly sales keep rising? For how long? And if the Model Y’s sales stop rising, what happens with Tesla’s sales? Naturally, the hope and expectation is the Tesla Cybertruck will be the next big growth machine. And then after that, there’s the famed “Model 2” or “Model C” or “Cybercar” or whatever the low-cost Tesla is going to be called. (We know it won’t be called the Model 2, which was initially just a joke name I came up with, but that’s what most people call it these days.)

Well, we don’t know what’s around the corner, of course, but we can see that up to now, Tesla has followed an extremely impressive growth path.

Looking at the quarterly sales chart above, we get a better view of Tesla’s overall growth in unit sales. It has risen to nearly half a million sales a quarter, and nearly 2 million sales a year. But at the same time, the sales rate has clearly slowed down a bit.

The cumulative sales chart is a fun one, particularly since it is like a picture perfect disruptive technology adoption chart.

Speaking of cumulative sales, one of the most fascinating views now is the comparison of Model Y cumulative sales and Model 3 cumulative sales. You can see from this comparison that the Model Y’s growth looks very different from the Model 3’s growth. The Model 3 was the historically monumental EV that broke open the global floodgates for the EV revolution, but the followup Model Y has taken things to a whole other level.

And last but not least, we have a line graph based on Tesla’s official “model” sales numbers. (The more specific sales numbers higher up are estimates.) Combined, Model 3 & Model Y sales shoot up and up and up, with just a few temporary zags down.

As always, I love looking at these Tesla charts and graphs at the end of each quarter, but then I immediately start wondering about what the next quarter will bring. Any predictions?

For extra fun, below are interactive versions of these charts and graphs as well as one extra one (the red one) in which you can focus in on individual models.