Tesla sold 254,822 Model Y units in Europe last year, ahead of Romania’s Dacia Sandero hatchback, which sold 235,893 units, according to Dataforce, which covers 97% of sales in the European Union, EFTA countries and the UK.

As Electrek points out, Tesla won in part because it strategically pushed its crossover forward with some significant price cuts that started last year and are still happening around the world. The automaker also took advantage of generous government incentives in Europe.

Tesla manufactures its Model Y for the EU market at the Gigafactory in Berlin – with volumes of 3,000 units per week.

Last year, the Model Y led for 7 months out of 12, compared to the Dacia Sandero in four and the Volkswagen T-Roc in one. The VW T-Rock took the third most popular place in Europe with 206,438 units sold.

Compared to 2022: Tesla sold 137,608 Model Ys, while the Dacia Sandero sold 200,736 units to become Europe’s most popular car.

Other top 2023 models include the Renault Clio in fourth place with 202,942 units sold; and the Peugeot 208 and Opel Corsa in fifth and sixth place with 194,376 and 188,662 units sold, respectively.

In the US, the Model Y was the fifth best-selling model last year with 403,897 units.

Taking into account the preliminary results of 2023, Model Y will also become the absolute leader in sales in the world – at the beginning of the year, the Tesla car moved from the pedestal of the long-term leader Toyota Corolla and has been confidently holding the lead since then. It is expected that by the end of 2023, Tesla will ship 1.22 million to customers and exceed by 13% the result of Toyota Corolla (1.08 million).

According to the official report, Tesla sold 1.8 million electric cars in 2023, which is 38% more than in 2022 (however, separate data for the Model Y was not provided).