Tesla breaks into America’s bestselling cars list for 2022, but trucks still dominate

DETROIT — Pickup vans once more led America’s top-selling autos final yr, however Tesla broke into the highest 10 for the primary time as a Covid-era shakeup amongst different widespread fashions continues.

Data and analytics agency Motor Intelligence reviews the electrical Tesla Model Y crossover was the sixth bestselling car within the nation in 2022, beating out the GMC Sierra pickup, Honda CR-V crossover and different longstanding high sellers.

Tesla doesn’t report regional or particular person car gross sales, so the information is estimated. Overall, Tesla reported delivering about 1.25 million Model Y and Model 3 autos globally in 2022. The Model 3 ranked thirteenth in gross sales at 211,641 items, in accordance with Motor Intelligence.

“It’s no surprise that Tesla ranks that high,” stated Michelle Krebs, government analyst for Cox Automotive. “The brand, despite all the news and stuff, still dominates the EV market and it dominates the luxury market. A lot of that strength comes from the Model Y.”

Despite posting its lowest gross sales since 2012, the Ford F-Series was the nation’s top-selling car for the forty first yr and America’s best-selling truck for 46 consecutive years. The Chevrolet Silverado regained its longstanding second-place spot after being outsold by the Ram pickup in 2021.

Parts and provide chain issues for the reason that onset of the Covid pandemic have brought on sporadic plant shutdowns at totally different occasions for automakers, resulting in a shakeup in car gross sales rankings for the previous couple of years.

“We have seen so much fluctuation in sales and inventory,” Krebs stated. “In 2022, the year started out with very high demand … but then we saw things shift by the end of the year. Demand seemed to be softening a bit while inventory, not across the board, was rising.”

Automotive executives and analysts are cautiously optimistic that the U.S. business will normalize extra this yr no matter recessionary fears, rising rates of interest and different financial issues. Last yr the business was estimated to have bought between 13.7 million and 13.9 million autos, in accordance with business analysts. A typical yr previous to the pandemic noticed greater than 17 million in gross sales.

Here are the ten best-selling autos within the U.S. by unit gross sales for 2022, in accordance with Motor Intelligence.