A big month of August deliveries from Tesla, coinciding with the local launch of the Model Y SUV, drove monthly BEV market share to what is being described as an all-time high for Australia.
Electric vehicle (EV) sales totalled 4235 in August, 80 per cent of which wore a Tesla badge.
This overall EV tally is equivalent to 4.4 per cent of the total market. While the figure for March 2022 was 5.5 per cent, that in fact included three months’ worth of Tesla sales.
“EV sales were 4.4 per cent of the total market. This is the highest market share for pure battery electric vehicles ever recorded in a single month in Australia,” said FCAI chief executive Tony Weber.
“Year-to-date EV sales are 2 per cent of the total market, hybrids are 7.6 per cent and plug-in hybrid vehicles are 0.6 per cent.
“Combined electrified vehicles are now just over 10 per cent of total sales,” he added.
Tesla was also the seventh best-selling brand overall for August, outselling brands such as MG (3074 sales), Subaru (2960 sales), and Isuzu Ute (2800 sales).
It was still a far cry away from Toyota, the top-selling brand for the month, which sold a total of 20,616 vehicles.
In August it sold a total of 2380 Model 3 sedans, making it the top-selling passenger vehicle for the month and the fourth top-selling vehicle overall.
The Model 3 was beaten by the Toyota HiLux (6214 sales), Ford Ranger (4497), and the Toyota RAV4 (2482) for overall sales in August.
It outsold the likes of the Toyota LandCruiser (2379 sales), Mazda CX-5 (2325), Toyota Corolla (2115), and the Mitsubishi Triton (2087).
In the luxury medium passenger vehicle segment, the Tesla Model 3 significantly outsold its closest competitors, the Mercedes-Benz C-Class (306 sales) and BMW 3 Series (252).
Tesla also delivered 1017 examples of its newly-launched Model Y SUV during August.
It was the top-selling luxury mid-sized SUV in the country, outselling the BMW X3 (420 sales), Mercedes-Benz GLC wagon (316), Volvo XC60 (299), and the Audi Q5 (227).
Over the last few months Tesla has been experiencing production delays at its Chinese manufacturing plant.
The last time Tesla recorded a similar number of monthly sales was back in March 2022 when it recorded 4417 sales of its Model 3. The Model Y wasn’t on sale yet.
MORE: Everything Tesla Model 3
MORE: Everything Tesla Model Y
