Model Y goes #1 globally, just as Tesla suffers another data leak

The Tesla Model Y electric SUV has become the best-selling car globally, but the company has been hit with another major data leak.

According to Handelsblatt [↗], an unidentified whistleblower leaked 100 gigabytes worth of confidential data made up of more than 23,000 files, to the German publication.

Handelsblatt claims the ‘Tesla Files’ haven’t been falsified and a lawyer representing Tesla told the publication that the whistleblower is a “disgruntled former employee” who abused his position as a service technician to access the information.

Regardless of how the breach occurred, the brand could be found guilty of failing to ensure the privacy of its customer and partner data.

In its story, Handelsblatt suggests the data protection breach would violate the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) laws. The whistleblower notified German authorities in April, and is currently being investigated by Netherlands’ data protection watchdog.

If deemed in breach, Tesla could be fined up to four per cent of its annual sales, which equates to AU$5.34 billion (€3.26 billion).

This is the brand's second data leak controversy this year, after Reuters [↗] reported in April that Tesla employees had internally shared private camera recordings from customer vehicles, without consent.

One month earlier, the automaker launched a campaign boasting about its data privacy policy – stressing that most data is stored and processed locally in the vehicle, with some anonymised if sent to Tesla.

Model Y charges to the top

The news of more data leaks comes as figures from Jato Dynamics (via Motor1 [↗]) revealed that 267,000 Tesla Model Y electric SUVs were sold globally in the first quarter of 2023 (from January to March).

This performance bumped the venerable Toyota Corolla small car from the top spot, at 256,400 sales, and the HiLux ute, with 214,700 sales globally.

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Speculative Tesla Model 2 rendering | Wheels Media

More Tesla models coming fast (they say)

Tesla is expected to embark on a rapid expansion in the coming years, with the much-anticipated, high-volume ‘Model 2’ cut-price electric car, along with the long-rumoured Model 3 sedan refresh – and an electric van, people-mover, and bus in the pipeline.