Sales of what was once Australia’s best-selling electric car, the Tesla Model 3, have plunged in the month of October, bringing overall sales of the biggest EV brand down significantly on both a monthly and year to date basis.
Data released by the Electric Vehicle Council shows that both Tesla and and another EV specialist Polestar together accounted for just 1,594 for the month, down nearly one quarter from the same month last year
The Model 3 electric sedan, despite its recent refresh, was the worst hit, adding just 422 sales compared to 1,178 in the same month last year. The Model Y saw 1,042 sales, up from 810 a year ago but below the 1,498 in September.
So far this year, the combined sales of Tesla EVs in Australia are down 19.44 per cent over the same period a year earlier, with the Model Y down 27 per cent in the first 10 months of 2024, and the Model 3 down 7 per cent.
Polestar also saw it’s sales of the Polestar 2 sedan drop to less than a half of September. In October 91 sales were registered, down from 185 in the previous month.
This is also the first month when two other models from the Swedish brand joined the charts. This included the Polestar 3 with 14 sales and for the very first time, Polestar 4 also recorded 25 sales in October.
Over the year, Polestar is down 22 per cent.
To counter this decline, Tesla has put several incentives in place in recent months. These include having lower interest rates on select inventory cars, reintroduction of the referral program and most recently, last week, announcing thousands of leasing a new Tesla EV.
The company still has other levers it can pull which could reintroduce free supercharging credit on new sales and FSD transfer schemes.
On top of that, given the company’s recent focus on cost cutting measures, further price cuts could also help with a Q4 sales push.
With less than two months remaining in the final quarter and December being a traditionally quieter month for sales, more incentives will be needed to reinvigorate sales.
A fuller better picture of the overall EV and new car sales market will emerge once Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) vFacts sales figures gets released on Tuesday. Tesla and Polestar have left the FCAI because of its position against the federal government’s new vehicle emissions policies.
Riz is the founder of carloop based in Melbourne, specialising in Australian EV data, insight reports and trends. He is a mechanical engineer who spent the first 7 years of his career building transport infrastructure before starting carloop. He has a passion for cars, particularly EVs and wants to help reduce transport emissions in Australia. He currently drives a red Tesla Model 3.