Australia’s lowest cost EVs give electric sales a boost as MG4 leapfrogs Model 3

Australia’s lowest cost EVs have made an immediate impact on the new car market in Australia, underpinning another strong month of electric vehicle sales and changing the order of things in the EV market.

Three new EVs with variants that start under $40,000 – before on road costs – have been released into the Australian market in the past few months and two of them – the MG4 and the BYD Dolphin – have performed very strongly.

The MG4 dislodged the Tesla Model 3 from its long-standing position as the best-selling passenger EV in Australia, selling 835 units in month of November compared to 788 for the Model 3, while the BYD Dolphin also did well with 589 units sold in its first full month on the market.

In the SUV division, the Model Y continued its dominance of the EV market with 3,151 sales, and remains the best selling SUV of any fuel type in the country, outselling the Toyota Prado, Rav4 and Landcruiser and behind only the Ford Ranger, Toyota Hilux and Isuzu utes.

Overall, EV sales in November totalled 8,646, up from 6,057 the previous month and nearly double the 4,457 sold in the same month last year. The market share for EVs was 7.7 per cent in the month and 7.2 per cent for the year to dated, during which EV sales have totalled 80,446.

The share of EVs might have been higher but for the still limited amount of models and availability, with overall new car sales reaching 1.1 million for the year and likely to set a new annual record. That’s another million new petrol and diesel cars which will likely be on the roads for at least another decade to come.

The most interesting part of the market, however, is the success of the lowest cost EVs. The MG4 has now totalled 2,527 sales in the three months it has been available and the BYD Dolphin has risen to 689 in just over a month. The third member of the sub-$40,000 group, the GWM Ora, has been less successful with 69 new sales in November to take its total to 429.

In total, the three lower-cost EVs sold 1,493 units in November, nearly half the 3,051 passenger electric sold during the month (although it should be made clear that some variants of these models cost more than $40,000).

Meanwhile, the declining dominance of the Model 3 might be at least partly explained by the impending arrival of the new refreshed version, which is yet to begin deliveries to Australian customers.

The best-selling EVs in November were:

• Tesla Model Y – 3151 sales
• MG MG4 – 835 sales
• Tesla Model 3 – 788 sales
• BYD Atto 3 – 668 sales
• BYD Dolphin – 589 sales
• Volvo C40 Recharge – 215 sales
• Kia EV6 – 212 sales
• Polestar 2 – 191 sales
• Mercedes-Benz EQA – 169 sales
• Cupra Born – 103 sales
• Kia EV9 – 98 sales
• Hyundai Ioniq 6 – 98 sales
• Hyundai Ioniq 5 – 88 sales
• Hyundai Kona EV – 57 sales
• Porsche Taycan – 56 sales
• Mercedes-Benz EQE SUV – 50 sales
• Nissan Leaf – 43 sales

The Driven is waiting to hear back from various manufacturers for sales of some EV models, such as the MG ZS EV and others. The article will be updated once they have been received and a full list published on Wednesday.