Tesla approaching 10,000 sales in Australia

Sales of Tesla vehicles in Australia are a closely guarded secret since the Californian EV-maker does not subscribe to the local auto industry’s VFACTS reporting system.

The latest internal sales figures obtained by carsales in January revealed Tesla Australia sold 3793 vehicles in 2019 – more than brands like Jaguar, MINI and Peugeot – taking its overall total to 7071 since the original Roadster arrived here in 2012.

Now, new data from shipping tracker Vedaprime shows Tesla shipped 2072 vehicles to Australia in 2020, taking its total to 9174 since volume sales began with the Model S in 2014.

While these figures obviously relate to the number of vehicles imported – not sold – almost all Tesla cars are built and shipped to order, so Vedaprime’s data shows the US manufacturer’s local supply chain has returned to pre-COVID levels.

Tesla shipped 935 units in the third quarter of 2020, about 200 of which were due to arrive today following days due to Port Botany industrial action, almost matching the first-quarter figure of almost 1000 before imported plummeted in the second quarter.

More importantly, the data shows Tesla vehicles continue to dominate the fledgling EV market in Australia, where just 1064 EVs (excluding hybrids and plug-in hybrids) were sold to August this year, accounting for just 0.002 per cent of the total new-vehicle market.

In fact, the data indicates Tesla has shifted almost double number of EVs sold by all other brands so far this year, which is unsurprising since all Teslas are electric and fewer than 10 other EVs are currently available.

These include the BMW i3, Hyundai IONIQ and Kona Electric, Jaguar I-PACE, Nissan LEAF, Mercedes-Benz EQC, MINI Electric, MG ZS and, for now, Renault ZOE.

The cheapest of these are priced from close to $50,000, which is nonetheless more affordable than Tesla’s entry-level Model 3 (from $75,000).

Of the 2000 or so Teslas shipped Down Under this year, 90 per cent (1852) were Model 3 medium sedans and the rest was made up by the Model X SUV (120) and Model S large sedan (110).

Whether Model 3 sales keep climbing in Australia remains to be seen, given the car-maker only commenced first local deliveries in August 2019 and continues to fill orders, some of which now date back three years.

However, like almost all car-makers, Tesla has promised a host of new EV models, starting with the smaller Model Y SUV – Australian release timing for which remains unknown – and also including the Cybertruck ute, the next-generation Roadster sports car and the ‘Model 2’ compact car that could come here from China.