The Tesla Model Y is the 2nd best selling car (gas or electric) in the US (Q1 2026)

[EricGregori]

The Model Y is selling in Toyota Camry territory, even without the $7500 incentive.

Normally, the RAV4 is #1 which would drop the Model Y to #3, but Toyota is having some production issues with the RAV4 right now.

Q1 2026, top-selling passenger cars and SUVs (non-trucks), based on estimates from Cox Automotive and Kelley Blue Book, were:
Honda CR-V: 99,437 units
Tesla Model Y: ~78,591 units
Toyota Camry: 78,255 units

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[CyberTexas]

Is this USA or worldwide?

 

[Limes2]

Is this USA or worldwide?

US

 

[YDR37]

Q1 2026, top-selling passenger cars and SUVs (non-trucks), based on estimates from Cox Automotive and Kelley Blue Book, were:
Honda CR-V: 99,437 units
Tesla Model Y: ~78,591 units
Toyota Camry: 78,255 units

The good news is that the Model Y had impressive US sales in Q1 2026. The bad news is that the Q1 numbers used to be even more better. For example, Cox estimated 96,729 MY deliveries in Q1 2023. So the Q1 2026 number is down by about 19% from the peak Q1 number in 2023.

Same pattern with the Model 3. Cox estimated 31,672 US M3 deliveries in 1Q 2026. That's certainly respectable -- but the number was 54,954 in 1Q 2023. So for the M3, the 1Q 2026 number is down by about 42% from the peak Q1 number in 2023.

EV sales are booming globally, so overall, Tesla deliveries could rise from 2025 to 2026. However, the growth is happening in Asia and Europe; EV sales aren't booming in the US (at least not yet). It's possible that Tesla sales could fall in the US this year, even if they rise globally.

 

[HaulingAss]

US

That's impressive Model Y could do this in the USA.

So much for the narrative they only sell well because of the $7500 Federal Tax Credit!

 

[BlueLightning]

Why buy new when you can get a lightly used 2023?

 

[YDR37]

Why buy new when you can get a lightly used 2023?

Good question. There's reason to believe that a surge of EVs (particularly Tesla Model Ys and Model 3s) will be coming off lease in 2026, and driving down the prices of used vehicles:

Why 2026 Will Be a Great Time to Buy a Used EV

... Between January 2023 and September 2025, more than 1.1 million EVs were leased under some very attractive terms — terms that were made possible by a $7500 credit ... That credit turbocharged the portion of new EVs that were leased rather than purchased — until last year, when the Trump administration nixed the credit. By the second quarter of 2024 ... nearly half of all EVs were leased. In the second quarter of 2025, nearly 58 percent of new EVs were leased ...

That cohort of leased vehicles is hitting used-car lots very soon. While the first of these generously subsidized leases were made available in January 2023, the subsidized leasing boom really took off around April 2023. With the most common lease term being 36 months, that means EV lease turn-ins will be surging in April 2026 and, soon after, they'll be elbowing in for a bigger piece of dealers' inventories ... While values won't go into freefall, the off-lease cars will pull prices down.

 

[dalton108]

Is this USA or worldwide?

it’s doing even better in lots of markets worldwide. Particularly in Europe.

 

[YDR37]

Q1 2026, top-selling passenger cars and SUVs (non-trucks), based on estimates from Cox Automotive and Kelley Blue Book, were:
Honda CR-V: 99,437 units
Tesla Model Y: ~78,591 units
Toyota Camry: 78,255 units

The Model Y is one of the most successful car models of our time. It is clearly taking sales away from the ICE competition, like Toyota and Honda.

But there is one downside to the Model Y's success that is often overlooked: it is also taking away sales from other Tesla car models. The fact is that the S3XY models aren't clearly differentiated to the average consumer. People say that "all Tesla cars look the same", and they've got a point; Tesla newbies need charts, like the one below, to tell them apart.

And in this situation, the Model Y has simply become the "default" Tesla car, particularly in North America. For example, in California in 1Q 2026, the Model Y had over 75% of Tesla car sales --which means that it outsold the 3/S/X combined by more than three times. And the Y could become even more dominant now that the S and X have been discontinued.

So the Model Y can put up big sales numbers, yet this does not necessarily mean big numbers for Tesla sales generally. In North America, the Model Y is sucking all of the oxygen out of the room for the other S3XY models. I suspect that this is less true in Europe and Asia, where consumers are more receptive to the smaller size of the Model 3.

 

[YDR37]

So the Model Y can put up big sales numbers, yet this does not necessarily mean big numbers for Tesla sales generally. In North America, the Model Y is sucking all of the oxygen out of the room for the other S3XY models.

Just to be clear, none of this applies to the Cybertruck. The Cybertruck is very clearly differentiated from the Model Y (and from everything else for that matter). Maybe Cybertruck sales could be better, but that has nothing to do with the success of the Model Y.

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