EV sales slump in Australia in July, prompting new round of electric price wars

Electric car sales have dipped in the month of July, following a strong result in June, which may explain why the EV price war is continuing with the country’s three biggest electric brands now all offering significant discounts.

The latest data from the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) and Electric Vehicle Council shows that 6,743 full-battery EVs were sold in Australia in July – a share of just 6.6 per cent in a market that is otherwise at record levels of more than 100,000.

The data is now harder to follow for electric vehicles following the decision by the two specialist EV makers Tesla and Polestar to quit the main car lobby, the FCAI, and report their figures only to the EVC.

Last Friday, we reported a significant fall in both Tesla and Polestar sales for the month of July, and the FCAI data released on Monday for the rest of the market suggests that other EV models have also reported weaker numbers for the later month.

EV sales had remained above 8,000 vehicles for most part of the year, and were above 9 per cent of the new car market earlier this year. But hybrids and plug in hybrids are now more popular, both doubling their market share in July compared to a year ago, and now accounting more than 20 per cent of the new car market.

Looking into the EV model sales, as we reported on Friday, Tesla once again led with its Model Y remaining Australia’s best-selling EV during the month. The Tesla Model Y saw 1,353 sales, significantly lower than the 2,906 sales in the previous month.

The Test Model 3 took the second spot with 1,239 sales, also below the 1,777 sales it had during June.

BYD models came in after the two Tesla EVs with the BYD Seal sedan selling 570 units and the Atto 3 electric SUV selling  434 in July.

The fifth spot was taken by one of the newest electric models from Volvo, the EX30 which once again did well with 313 sales in July. 

The MG4 fell out of the top 5 during the month with 307 sales, despite being one of the lower cost EVs on the market. In early August, the brand further cut prices to keep the momentum of its EV sales going for the rest of the year.

Polestar had a quieter month with just 91 sales of the Polestar 2. Surprisingly, Polestar’s second model, the Polestar 3 electric SUV also made up the figures with about 12 sales hinting at customer deliveries and test drives in the coming months.

The best-selling EVs in July 2024 were:

• Tesla Model Y – 1353 sales

• Tesla Model 3 – 1239 sales

• BYD Seal – 570 sales

• BYD Atto 3 – 434 sales

• Volvo EX30 – 313 sales

• MG MG4 – 307 sales

• BYD Dolphin – 226 sales

• BMW i4 – 158 sales

• Kia EV6 – 158 sales

• Hyundai Ioniq 5 – 128 sales

• Toyota bZ4X – 92 sales

• Polestar 2 – 91 sales

The Driven is waiting to hear back from various manufacturers for sales of some EV models and this list will be updated once they’re received. These include numbers for the ZS EV.

“While the first seven months of 2024 have exceeded expectations, the industry remains cautious about the future pending the implementation of the New Vehicle Efficiency Standard coupled with the economic conditions,” FCAI CEO Tony Weber said in a statement.

See full details of EV sales for each month of the year in our data base here.