Tesla share of Australia EV market falls below 50 pct as Chinese brands make their marque

Australia has hit another milestone in EV uptake with sales surpassing 80,000 vehicles in 2023, a significant jump from the previous year. But there is a change in the order of things, with Tesla’s EV market share falling below 50 per cent in the month of November, and new low cost Chinese EVs making their mark.

As we reported on Tuesday, Australia recorded sales of 8,646 full battery electric cars in November, a share of 7.7 per cent of the total new car market. That took the total EV sales for the year to date to 80,446, or 7.2 per cent of the new car market.

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

The Tesla Model Y continues to dominate as the leading electric car, with 3,151 sales, or 36 per cent of all electric sales for the month. But a slump in the sales of the Model 3, relegated to third place by the newly launched MG4 – possibly as customers waited for the soon-to-arrive 2024 Model 3 refresh – took Tesla’s EV market share down to 46 per cent for the month.

That’s the second lowest monthly market share in Australia for Tesla since reliable stats were first collated, and it is a sign of the growing competition as Chinese car makers in particular – with three new models with variants priced at under $40,000 before on roads – grab attention.

Tesla still dominates the year-to-date market, with the Model Y posting a phenomenal 27,418 sales, and the Model 3 at 16,506 sales for the year. Combined, both models have accounted for 55% of the total EV sales in Australia this year.

Interestingly, Tesla is experiencing similar pressures in the US, where its EV market share has fallen from 62 per cent a year ago to less than 52 per cent in November, according to Morgan Stanley. EVs have an eight per cent penetration in the US market, not far above that of Australia.

But it is the rise of lower cost EVs that is of most interest. Australia has been waiting a long time for a few relatively affordable ground-up EVs with good supply to be available to customers, and they have been quickly embraced.

Chinese car maker BYD, which is challenging Tesla for the top spot globally for EV sales, had a 14.5 per cent share of the Australian EV market in November through the Atto 3 and the newly launched BYD Dolphin.

The BYD Seal, an electric sedan that will provide competition to the Model 3, has also started deliveries and the company will add two more models in 2024.

The now China-owned MG has also expanded its offering with the popular and well regarded MG4, which pushed out the Model 3 to take second place in the EV rankings in November with 835 sales.

We have yet to get confirmation of sales of the EV version of the MG ZS, but MG is likely to have a similar market share in Australia for November as BYD. With the addition of the small number of sales from the GWM Ora (69), another or the sub-$40,000 offerings, that puts Chinese brands at nearly a 30 per cent market share for the month.

At the premium end, the Volvo XC40 Recharge, Polestar 2, the Kia EV6 and the Mercedes EQA get into the top 10 sales for the year to date, while the newly launched Kia EV9, the electric people move that is the biggest EV on the Australian market, also had a solid first month of sales with 98, putting it just outside the top 10 for the month.

*Totals may not match in absence of detailed numbers from some car makers.

See also The Driven’s Models page for a full listing and prices and basic specs of all available EV models.