The Tesla Cybertruck may not be exactly what it was promised to be but that hasn’t dissuaded buyers yet.
The automaker’s first pickup was the third best-selling EV in the U.S. last quarter, according to Tech Crunch. It beat out every battery-powered car, SUV, and truck that isn’t made by Tesla, coming in only behind the company’s perennially popular Model 3 sedan and Model Y crossover.
Data from Kelly Blue Book’s quarterly “Electric Vehicle Sales Report” estimates that Tesla sold 16,692 Cybertrucks between July 1 and September 30 of this year. That number is significantly more than the company has sold in any other quarter since production of the EV went into production late last year. Tesla has now sold 28,250 examples of the pickup during the first nine months of the year.
As popular as the Cybertruck was last quarter, it trailed far behind the Model Y and Model 3, of which Tesla sold 86,801 and 58,423 examples of respectively. It did comfortably beat out the fourth and fifth highest-selling EVs, the Ford Mustang Mach-E (13,392 units) and Honda Prologue (12,644), though. There were also more than twice as many Cybertrucks sold as any other battery-powered pickup truck. Rivian sold 7,245 examples of the R1T, Ford sold 7,162 examples of the F-150 Lightning, and Chevrolet sold 1,995 examples of the Silverado EV.
Most impressive of all might be that the strong sales quarter gave the Cybertruck a 4.8 percent segment share, meaning that Tesla’s latest model represents one in 20 EVs sold in the country last quarter. In total, Tesla sold 166,923 EVs last quarter, or 48 percent of all battery cars, SUVs and trucks sold.
It’s easy to imagine that Tesla will be pleased to be the maker of the three most popular EVs in the U.S. last year. It will also be interesting to see if it can hold onto those spots. The Cybertruck may be selling well in its first year on the market, but it remains to be seen how long that will remain to be the case. While it was next to impossible to buy the pickup earlier this year, the company has since managed to clear through its backlog of reservations and there is no longer any wait time required to buy one (something which has hurt the vehicle’s secondary market). The coming months will reveal if there is interest in the model past early adopters.
