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Comment by SoftTalker | Hacker News Reader

Americans in the majority prefer pickup trucks, SUVs and crossovers. Ford entirely quit making sedans and hatchbacks a few years ago, at least for North America.

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How did Tesla become the most valuable carmarker in the world making mostly sedans?

Tesla primarily sells into coastal cities where the driving conditions and use cases are ideal for an EV sedan. That said, most of the people I know with a Tesla also have an ICE SUV or truck.

By being valued as a tech company instead of as an automaker.

The Model Y is Tesla's best selling car and has been for a while

Tesla combines Model 3 and Model Y sales when they report results, so we don't actually know that. According to estimates*, and my own eyes, more Model 3s are sold than Model Ys.

* 2021 is the last year for which Wikipedia has estimates for both vehicles. The Model 3 sold over 1m, the Model Y around 400k.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tesla_Model_Y#Sales

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tesla_Model_3

Right but some countries (incl China) have explicit registration data so these estimates are not a shot in the dark. From Jose Pontes' article where the Wikipedia Y estimates came from, there were 530k 3s sold and 1.2M Ys sold

https://cleantechnica.com/2024/02/05/world-ev-sales-report-t...

Your figure for 2021 Model3 Sales is actually 3+Y btw

Consistently making things up/lying to boost the stock price

Tesla's sales were mostly in cities (where people still buy sedans), and they were mostly taking away business from foreign manufacturers.

The world is a lot bigger than the US. And valuation is not actual value but more whatever the current overhyped investor thinks it's going to bring in the future.

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