Jay Leno’s Garage (2025) recently offered an upbeat “first drive” of Tesla’s facelifted 2026 Model Y. The centerpiece of the video was an interview with the car’s head designer and engineer, Franz von Holzhausen and Lars Moravy.
Giving visibility to the development team was a smart move on Tesla’s part because it distracted from the bad press the company’s head, Elon Musk has recently received. Indeed, he has become such a political lightning rod that his popularity has taken a hit — and that appears to be starting to hurt Tesla sales.
You would never know that by watching Leno’s video, which basically functioned as an infomercial for Tesla. For example, von Holzhausen said that his design goal was to “take the best-selling car on the road and make it better. And we listen to customer feedback, something we are really good at doing.”
Leno asked if the Model Y was the best-selling car in its segment and Moravy said that it “was the best-selling car in the world in 2023. And we think in 2024 — the numbers aren’t out yet — but we are pretty sure about 2024 as well.”
The Model Y — and Tesla — have been struggling of late
It’s true that the Model Y ended up retaining its best-selling crown in 2024, but only by a hair. Whereas the Tesla racked up 1.09 million in world-wide sales, the Toyota Corolla hit 1.08 million (Statista, 2025). However, the Model Y was down from more than 1.2 million in 2023 (Berg, 2024). The car’s sales also declined in the US by 6.6 percent to roughly 370,000 units in 2024 (Singh, 2025).
Tesla as a whole has struggled. For 2024 sales were down in the US by 5.6 percent (Levin, 2025) and 11.6 percent in California — the nation’s biggest electric-vehicle market (Lambert, 2025). Sales were up by 8.8 percent in China for 2024 but fell 11.5 percent in January 2025 (Reuters News, 2025a, 2025c). The automaker delivered 1.1 percent fewer cars worldwide in 2024 (Tucker, 2025).
Some of Tesla’s biggest sales declines have been reported in Europe, where Tesla dropped 13 percent. However, the brand saw a 41-percent drop in Germany. Then, in January sales fell 59 percent and in France by 63 percent (Gitlin, 2025).
Also see ‘Automotive News gets surprisingly negative on Tesla Cybertruck’
Analysts have partly blamed Tesla’s narrow and aging lineup going up against a an outpouring of new competition. However, the recent behavior of Musk in the political realm has also been pointed to as a factor.
“Musk’s influence on the brand is becoming increasingly polarizing, pushing many buyers to look elsewhere,” Electrifying.com CEO Ginny Buckley told Reuters News (2025b). That hasn’t just been in response to Musk’s controversial role with the Trump administration. Jonathan M. Gitlin (2025) wrote that “Musk has repeatedly inserted himself into European politics to create friction and promote his far-right causes.”
That brings us back to Leno’s show. His street cred with car buffs and softball questions to Tesla staff could revive interest in the Model Y. It remains to be seen whether the new design will be enough to counteract heightened competition as well as Musk’s hotly controversial political moves.
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RE:SOURCES
- Berg, Nik; 2024. “World’s Best-Selling Car Is the Tesla Model Y.” Hagerty’s. Posted Jan. 26.
- Gitlin, Jonathan M.; 2025. “Teslas turn toxic as sales crash in Europe and the UK.” ARS Technica. Poted Feb. 5.
- Lambert, Fred; 2025. “Tesla’s sales drop double digits in the US’ biggest EV market, while others are growing.” Electrek. Posted Feb. 3.
- Leno, Jay; 2025. “Exclusive First Drive of the 2026 Tesla Model Y.” Jay Leno’s Garage. Posted Feb. Jan. 10.
- Levin, Tim; 2025. “The U.S. Had A Record Year For EV Sales In 2024. Here’s How.” Inside EVs. Posted Jan. 14.
- Reuters News; 2025a. “Tesla’s China sales hit record high in 2024, bucking global decline.” Reuters News. Posted Jan. 3.
- ——; 2025b. “Musk effect? Tesla’s sales slump in Germany and other key European markets.” Automotive News. Posted Feb. 5.
- ——; 2025c. “Tesla’s China-made EV sales fall 11.5% y/y in January.” Posted Feb. 7.
- Singh, Karan; 2025. “Tesla Suffers Sharp Decline in U.S. Sales: A Look at the Numbers.” Not a tesla app. Posted Jan. 15.
- Statista; 2025. “Best-selling passenger car worldwide in 2024.” Accessed Feb. 11.
- Tucker, Sean; 2025. “Tesla Sees First Annual Sales Drop.” Kelly Blue Book. Posted Jan. 6.
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