VFACTS June: Tesla Model Y EV outsells Ford Ranger ute

The Tesla Model Y electric SUV outsold the Ford Ranger ute in June, snatching second place among Australia’s most popular new vehicles behind the evergreen Toyota HiLux.

After finishing third in May as Ranger and HiLux continued their battle for ultimate bragging rights as the top-selling vehicle Down Under, the Tesla Model Y mid-size SUV went one better last month with a record 5560 sales – the highest monthly total for an EV ever recorded in Australia.

The result also handed the Model Y top billing as Australia’s number-one SUV – ahead of both the MG ZS and Toyota RAV4 – and the best-selling car from a premium brand.

As anticipated, the Model Y has also now leapfrogged its Model 3 sibling (1458 sales last month) to become the US brand’s top-selling model this year – and Australia’s biggest-selling electric car – with 14,002 sales to the end of June, compared to 11,575 for the mid-size electric sedan.

Yes, simple maths by putting 3 and Y together has realised 25,577 sales for Tesla in the first half of 2023, cementing its position in the top 10 brands – sitting eighth, but within cooee of seventh-placed MG on 26,692 – and pushing well ahead of a host of other popular car-makers such as Subaru, Volkswagen, Nissan, to name just a few.

Tesla’s sixth place overall in June, with 7018 units, was the brand’s highest-ever monthly ranking in Australia. If supply keeps up with demand, Tesla will easily crack 50,000 sales this year with its two Chinese-built EVs.

Undisputed market leader Toyota, on the other hand, is anticipating a big turnaround in the second half and is predicting it will still reach its usual 200,000-plus annual sales come December 31 – despite ongoing supply shortages for some of its most popular models.

Toyota managed to deliver 6142 HiLux utes to customers last month, which was below the all-time record monthly sales it achieved in June last year (7582) but a solid result nonetheless.

That extends its lead over the Ford Ranger after six months of trading – 28,093 versus 26,741, after the Blue Oval’s shifted 5334 examples of its new ute in June.

Overall, Toyota’s 20,948 sales last month stemmed the flow of deep double-digit monthly declines with a 7.1 per cent deficit compared to June last year, leaving it 24 per cent behind last year’s first-half tally on 92,235 units.

It had only one other car among the top 10 best-sellers, which is a rare sight – the RAV4 in fifth (2858).

Mazda held its accustomed second position in June with 9706 sales (+55.4%), buoyed by 2560 sales of its BT-50 that finished in seventh on the charts – one of five diesel-powered utes among the top 10, which in turn puts perspective on Australian buyers’ ongoing preferences amid the EV surge.

As well as HiLux and Ranger, the others were the Isuzu D-MAX (ninth, 2500) and Mitsubishi Triton (10th, 2259).

After playing second fiddle to Kia for an extended period – and still trailing its Korean stablemate on a year-to-date basis – Hyundai made a long-awaited return to the podium by taking third position in June with 8215 sales (-0.5%), aided by the Tucson mid-size SUV (sixth, 2667) and i30 small car (eighth, 2523).

As we’ve reported, Hyundai is now working to make this a permanent placing, but the lack of a ute remains a limiting factor and Ford and Kia both stand as major roadblocks. (Kia will also get a ute before Hyundai.)

Ford took fourth place overall last month (7753, +55.9%) and Kia fifth (7551, -11.0%), although the latter holds sway at the halfway mark of the year.

With Tesla sixth, MG finished seventh (6016, +36.6%) and Mitsubishi eighth (5187, -11.3%), while Volkswagen’s return to form continued with 5125 sales (+71.2%), handing it ninth position ahead of Subaru (4920, +37.6%).

The brands closest to the top 10 in June were GWM/Haval (3897, +59.7%), Isuzu Ute (3611, +4.5%) and BMW (3038, +30.6%), leaving all others below 3000 units.

Making it big

As we saw last year, there was no end-of-financial-year sales frenzy in June due to supply shortages across the car industry, but the 124,926 new vehicles registered is further cause for optimism – notwithstanding ongoing restrictions and tough economic conditions.

This figure is the best June result since pre-pandemic 2018 and marks a 25 per cent increase on June 2022, when sales across all brands plummeted below 100,000 units for the first time in more than a decade.

“Indications from our members are that demand for new vehicles remains solid, but the supply is not yet at a point to meet this demand,” said Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) chief executive Tony Weber.

“To put it simply, if we could have landed more vehicles, this would have been a record June result.”

But Weber cautioned that the industry will carefully monitor “the broader economic conditions and their potential to impact on vehicle purchasing decisions by fleets, businesses and families during the second half of this year”.

Across the major segments, SUVs accounted for 55.3 per cent of all new vehicles sold last month (69,059, +31,5%), while light commercials were at 23.1 per cent (28,833, +20.9%). Passenger car share continues to fall, slipping to 16.3 per cent in June (20,379, +10.6%), but is being propped up to an extent by the popularity of the Tesla Model 3 and other EVs.

This trend is likely to continue as buyers turn to more affordable electric small cars launching soon, including the MG4 and BYD Dolphin.

In June, 11,042 EV sales were recorded across all brands, although as we’ve seen, Tesla soaked up 7018 of those and the BYD Atto 3 took 1532 alone. That compares to 9020 hybrid car sales, 735 plug-in hybrids, 37,497 diesel-powered vehicles and 59,995 with a petrol engine.

Just as there’s no disputing the massive rise in EV sales (43,092 YTD, +345.2%), Australian preferences are clear. Diesel sales have slipped just 5.3 per cent this year (to 175,939 units), while petrol-engined vehicle sales are up 6.6 per cent to 294,289.

“The early adopters of the new powertrain technology continue to push up the sales of electric vehicles across the country,” Weber said.

“The steady introduction of new battery-electric models across all model segments at more competitive price points is critically important as we deal with the challenges of supplying electric vehicles that meet business and personal consumer needs at prices the mainstream buyers can afford.”

The vast majority of these are coming out of China from a broad range of brands, helping grow Chinese vehicle sales to 95,852 units (+93.1%) in the first half of 2023.

That puts China third; Japan remains our most popular source of cars (154,647, -10.3%), followed by ute-central Thailand (122,300, -2.7%), but the deck chairs are slowly being shuffled.

Top 10 brands (2023 year to date):

Top 10 vehicles (June 2023):

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