Despite nagging production issues, the Tesla Model 3 is fast becoming one of America’s best-selling sedans. Monthly and quarterly sales totals in the last three months ending in September revealed that the Model 3 outsold all but four of the top sedans sold in the U.S., regardless of their size and price. In that time span, Tesla sold around 55,800 units of the Model 3, outselling far more established models like the Nissan Sentra, Hyundai Elantra, Ford Fusion, and Chevrolet Malibu. The only four models that outsold the Model 3 are the Toyota Corolla, Toyota Camry, Honda Civic, and Honda Accord.

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Americans want them some Model 3's, and that trend has shown no signs of reversing, or even slowing down, anytime soon. A chart pertaining to sales volume in the third quarter of 2018 created by Bloomberg shows the Model 3 outselling all but four sedans in the U.S. market. That’s a remarkable achievement for a vehicle that has had nagging production issues holding back deliveries to many U.S. customers.

Apparently, U.S. customers remain undaunted by the Model 3’s production bottlenecks because they’re still ordering the cars by the thousands. In the third quarter of 2018 alone, Tesla sold 55,800 units of the Model 3. That’s more than the 49,500 sold Nissan Sentras and the 49,200 sold units of the Hyundai Elantra. The Model 3’s impressive 3Q sales volume wasn’t enough to outsell the Toyota Corolla, Toyota Camry, Honda Civic, and Honda Accord, but give it a bit of time and the Tesla could be outselling those models, too.

That was already the case in the month of September. According to estimates made by InsideEVs, Tesla sold 22,250 units of the Model 3 last month. It’s not an exact figure, per se, but it is enough to upend sales of the mighty Toyota Corolla, America’s best-selling sedan, which, Toyota says amounted to 20,797 units in September.

Even Tesla’s more luxurious competitors are starting to feel the pinch. Mercedes-Benz, for example, reported that sales of the C-Class dropped 24 percent in September. Worse, it’s down 28 percent for the entire year through September.

Granted, the rankings are imperfect in the sense that Model 3 deliveries to customers in Canada were included in the tally. But sales in Canada — estimated at less than 2,000 units — in the third quarter of 2018 are small enough that they don’t dent the Model 3’s overall sales volume in the U.S. Besides, even if there’s margin for error in the totals, it doesn’t stain the growing status of the Model 3 as one of the best-selling sedans in the U.S. That, in itself, is a remarkable achievement considering the production issues that Tesla still faces.

Imagine, then, what those numbers will look like once those issues are fixed. The Tesla Model 3 is on a sales rampage, and the scariest part, at least for other automakers, is that the electric sedan isn’t being produced in full capacity yet.

Further Reading

Read our full review on the 2018 Tesla Model 3.

Read our speculative review on the 2022 Tesla Model S.