Ford's Best-seller Dominance May Soon End Thanks to Tesla

More than one Ford F-Series truck is sold every minute. The model continued its sales reign in 2023 becoming the top-selling vehicle overall for the 41st consecutive year. But, the truck may not make it to a 42nd year.

For the first time in a long time the leader of the market has a challenger that is rising in the ranks for best-selling vehicle overall. It's not another pickup truck, but an electric vehicle (EV).

Compared to the Ford F-Series, the Tesla Model Y is a fairly new player in the automotive space. It's been on sale since 2020, but only sold around 40,000 units that first year. In 2022 it was the country's best-selling EV.

But, Americans love their trucks, and the way the automakers report their sales has bouyed them to the top of the rankings for decades.

Ford lumps all its full-size truck sales together, calculating F-150, F-150 Lightning, and Super Duty models as one "F-Series" group number. Ram does the same with the 1500, 1500 Classic and HD models. GM's Chevrolet and GMC brands follow a similar tack.

Tesla have continued to climb. In 2023, about 400,000 of the vehicles were delivered to new owners, putting it behind the Toyota RAV4 as the fifth best-selling vehicle in the U.S. That same year, it became the best-selling vehicle on the planet, with Tesla moving more than 1.06 million of them globally.

"The Model Y beat out incredibly strong and established brands did so with far fewer permutations. Additionally, the rest of the world has caught up to the U.S. in terms of SUV acceptance, which has paved the way for Model Y to become a top seller globally too," Tyson Jominy, Vice President, Data and Analytics at J.D. Power told Newsweek.

EV adoption acceptance, and low entry prices, may aid the Model Y's path to the top spot.

"Instead, it's facing off with gas-powered cars like the Toyota RAV4. Toyota's inventory remains quite tight, likely impacting its overall sales volume. Furthering the point, the Model Y benefits from a $7,500 clean vehicle tax credit, which undoubtedly helps boost its sales," Matt Smith, deputy editor at CarGurus told Newsweek.

"EVs still trail internal combustion vehicles in terms of overall sales, but their popularity is growing and Tesla remains the dominant player in the EV space, thanks to a remarkably strong brand and a superior public charging infrastructure," Smith said.

There were electric cars before Tesla, but they were small, slow and sometimes off-putting.

"So, Tesla says 'electric cars are great, maybe a benefit,' and makes them sexy and fast and luxurious. Then the Model Y comes along and it's an electric version of car that everyone already wants," Brian Moody, executive editor of Kelley Blue Book tells Newsweek. "Honda CR-V and Toyota RAV4 owners want those kinds of cars that are also quick and reasonably nice inside."

A few years ago you needed a luxury car to get heated and cooled seats in the front and back, and you now get that in a Kia Forte. The differentiators must be something besides features, Moody says.

"And Tesla does that through software. Like Dog Mode. It's a system that keeps the air conditioning on when a dog is in there. It has a words on the screen that say 'my owners know I'm in here and I'm comfortable at 72 degrees.' They didn't invent something new. But little things like that make the difference. Like Ludicrous mode, they didn't invent a Sport mode, they just called it something cool."

There's also the unquantifiable "cool factor" that has married itself with the Tesla brand. Despite rising criticism of the company's CEO Elon Musk regarding his commitment to free speech on the X social media platform, formerly Twitter, and perceived political alliances in 2023, the brand's image has remained intact.