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Q1 2022: Tesla Model Y Surpasses Model 3 To Become Best-Selling EV In The World

In March 2022, 851,000 plug-in vehicles (electric cars and plug-in hybrids) were registered around the whole planet, which represented a 60% year-on-year increase. As a result, plug-in models reached a 15% market share (pure electrics alone made up 11%). Non-plug-in hybrids stayed at 832,000 units; in addition, they barely experienced a 1% growth.
Tesla Model Y, Courtesy of Tesla Inc.

After four years of dominance, everything seems to indicate that in 2022 the Tesla Model 3 will have to give up the first place in the world sales ranking to another model, which will be none other than its brother Tesla Model Y, which is currently the most internationalized proposal of the Austin-based EV manufacturer.
With 92,221 units delivered in March, the Model Y clearly outperformed the Model 3, which settled for 81,713 units. It is interesting to note that this is the first time that the SUV has overtaken the sedan in the accumulated total of an entire quarter, a change in trend that should go further in the coming months.

We must not forget that the Model Y is currently produced in Fremont (United States), Giga Berlin (Germany), Giga Shanghai (China) and Giga Texas (United States), while the Model 3 only comes out of the Fremont and Giga Shanghai production lines. When Giga Berlin and Giga Texas-Austin factories finally reach cruising speed, the difference between the two models should be much larger, for sure (as it was accurately anticipated by Elon Musk at the time of Model Y launch).

Tesla Model Y, Courtesy of Tesla Inc.

All in all, Tesla basically continues to lead the global electric car market. Third place in the ranking went to the Wuling HongGuang Mini EV, which with 47,563 units shipped, showed that it continues to be an extremely popular option in China (it is worth to mention here that we are only talking about number of units sold - not technology, quality, range, innovation, equipment, etc. - as there are obviously huge differences between a Wuling HongGuang mini and the other EV brands on the list; that is, they clearly do not belong to the same segment, so to say). The fourth position went to the Chery QQ Ice Cream (11,687 units), which despite being an almost exact copy of the Wuling model has apparently managed to convince the Chinese EV buyers.

Tesla Model Y, Courtesy of Tesla Inc.

The Volkswagen ID.4 and the Hyundai IONIQ 5, with 10,857 and 10,848 units sold respectively, ended the month of March in practically a technical tie. The rest of the top 10 was completed by Chinese models: Changan Benni EV (10,728 units), BYD Dolphin (10,504 units), BYD Han EV (10,186 units) and BYD Yuan Plus (10,027 units).
The ranking doesn't change much if we analyze the quarterly sales (January-March 2022):

1) Tesla Model Y 169,682,
2) Tesla Model 3 127,936,
3) Wuling Hong Guang Mini EV 100.361,
4) BYD Dolphin 29,672,
5) Volkswagen ID.4 29,444,
6) BYD HanEV 29,192,
7) Chery QQ Ice Cream 28,113,
8) Hyundai IONIQ 5 26.331,
9) Changan Benni EV 26.151,
10) BYD Qin PlusEV 24,042

Source: cleantechnica

All images courtesy of Tesla Inc.

Nico Caballero is the VP of Finance of Cogency Power, specializing in solar energy. He also holds a Diploma in Electric Cars from Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands, and enjoys doing research about Tesla and EV batteries. He can be reached at @NicoTorqueNews on Twitter. Nico covers Tesla and electric vehicle latest happenings at Torque News.

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