Tesla sales fell off a cliff in Australia last month

The number of Tesla Model 3s Model Ys finding homes Down Under plummeted to just 739 cars in January, marking a 33 per cent fall compared to the 1107 deliveries made back in January 2024.

Suffering the biggest sales drop among the brand’s two-car line-up was the Model 3, with last year’s second best-selling EV recording an alarming 62 per cent decline in volumes compared to this time last year with just 274 deliveries, despite the recent facelift.

Tesla’s January performance marks the brand’s lowest sales figures since July 2022 when volume was artificially limited by COVID-related restrictions, leading to only four cars being sold in Australia that month.

Despite the big drop-off in January volumes, Tesla can take comfort in the fact that even though demand dropped for the Model 3 sedan, sales of the Model Y rose by 21 per cent to 456 cars.

Even more impressive, those volumes are for the run-out pre-facelifted version, not the heavily updated Model Y due to land in May, but that still didn’t stop the brand's poor results.

The grim January performance follows a disappointing 2024 for the EV pioneer in Australia that saw the year end with an overall 17 per cent decline on the year before when Tesla didn’t have a single month of less than 1000 cars.

And it’s not just Australia that’s seen reduced demand for the Model 3 and Model Y.

In France there’s been a 63 per cent drop in Tesla sales in an electric car market that only suffered a 0.5 reduction in volumes.

Tesla is even struggling in Germany, the home of its gigafactory production hub, where sales are said to be down 41 per cent year-on-year.

Analysts claim it’s too early to link the sales slump to the behaviour of Tesla’s outspoken CEO Elon Musk, although the EV car-maker’s boss cosying with far-right lawmakers can’t be going down well with the brand’s original left-leaning fanbase.

Instead, the German and French falls are more likely due to the further pulling of electric car incentives, but sales of Teslas will be monitored closely in the coming months.

Back in Australia, Sino-Swedish brand Polestar also had a January it would wish to forget following a month where the Geely-owned car-maker delivered just a reported 82 vehicles – 45 per cent down compared to the same month last year.

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