Official sales data shows Tesla easily outsells Toyota Camry so far in 2022

Official Tesla sales figures have been added to the monthly Vfacts data collected by the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries for the first time – and they show another strong result for the first quarter of 2022.

The total sales of 4,417 not only confirm Tesla as easily the best selling EV in the Australian market, it also confirms it has easily outside its nearest premium mid-sized sedan segment competitor – the BMW 3 series – by a factor of nearly six (788 for the BMW 3 Series).

And notably, for the first time, it confirmed that Tesla is outselling Toyota’s medium-sized sedan mainstay, the Camry, also buy a significant margin.

Toyota sold 3,359 Camry cars – including hybrids – a little less than 75% than Tesla sold Model 3 sedans, despite the fact that the Tesla EV is twice the price (although as the Driven has reported cost of ownership for the Model 3 can prove to be less than the Toyota depending on re-sale value, which at the moment is going through the roof.)

Because this is Tesla’s first month of inclusion in Vfacts, the only data available for Tesla at the moment is the sales for the first three months of the year. It is as yet unclear if Tesla will continue to report on a monthly basis or by the quarter.

Either way, it will be interesting to see if Tesla’s extended wait times – which will see new customers waiting into 2023 to receive a new vehicle – are a result of growing sales numbers or a restricted supply due to global supply chain issues and semiconductor shortages.

If Tesla can maintain sales numbers throughout the year, it could see annual sales increase from the 12,094 sold in 2021 to nearly 20,000 – a rise of around 60 per cent.

March has also seen, for the first time, two more electric competitors enter the premium medium sedan segment. Polestar’s enigmatic Polestar 2 (technically a fastback) appeared for the first time in Vfacts, with 115 vehicles sold in March according to the data.

The new BMW i4 has also made an appearance for the first time, with 44 vehicles sold.