Tesla is selling as many Model 3s in Australia as Toyota is selling Camrys, according to The Driven's latest data, underlining how the shift to electric vehicles is starting to take hold, even in this laggard country market.

As The Driven reported last Thursday, July was a "significant month" for electric vehicle sales in Australia with four times as many EVs delivered compared to the same month a year earlier.

Tesla, unsurprisingly, continues to lead the way, in sales globally as well as in Australia, as confirmed by the most up-to-date shipping data courtesy of @VedaPrime.

We have combined this data with the latest sales figures from all the current automakers in Australia to compare how Tesla Model 3 sales shape up against the four best-selling vehicles in its main competitor categories: small-medium vehicles priced under $60,000 and medium vehicles above $60,000.

These comparison cars include Toyota's best-sellers, the Camry and the Corolla, and popular premium Mercedes-Benz C-Class and BMW 3 Series.

While the Model 3 is often pitted against the premium vehicles, we think its important to cast sales in the light of cheaper segment best-sellers particularly as Australia finally starts to embark upon its EV transition.

This will now be fuelled by $3,000 rebates in Victoria (even while it takes with the other hand in the form of a road user charge) and NSW (which is holding off on a road user charge until 2027, and is also wiping stamp duty for new EV purchased from September), and various other incentives from the other states.

The animated graph below is particularly relevant following our story about the potential for the Model 3 to cost less over five years of ownership against the cheapest Toyota Camry hybrid you can get.

While resale values are by no means set in stone, neither are skyrocketing fuel costs compared with the not-so-secret power of electric vehicles: charging for free at home off solar power.

The data shows that while the cheaper Corolla, which in Australia is priced from $24,000, is still leagues ahead of the Tesla Model 3 which now starts at $59,990, in late June it would appear the Tesla officially overtook the $31,000 Toyota Camry.

It had already overtaken the BMW 3 Series and the Mercedes-C-Class in January, and as of July has shipped three times that of each of these models. See it for yourself below:

 

We'll be updating this chart and adding more EV models, such as the Hyundai Ioniq 5, the Kia EV6 and the Polestar 2 which are all due to arrive by the end of 2021, as the year progresses. Stay tuned.