The price war in the Australian electric vehicle market has had a significant impact on sales, at least for the country’s most affordable EV model, the MG4, which has become the best selling car in the country – knocking Tesla off its perch for the first time.
A near quadrupling in sales propelled the MG4 – which had its on road price slashed to below $31,000 in October – to become the best-selling electric car for the month, outselling Tesla as a brand for the first time in Australia. No other car maker has achieved that feat.
The latest data from the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) and Electric Vehicle Council (EVC) shows that 6,414 battery electric vehicles were sold in Australia in October – a share that remained the same as the previous month of 6.4 per cent. That’s on the back of the total market approaching 100,000 vehicles for the second month in a row.
This October data compares better with sales in October 2023 where EVs made up 5.7% of the market, highlighting an improvement in 2024.
Looking at the data from a year-to-date perspective, the EV sales have accounted for 76,376 vehicles, up from 71,810 sold over the same period in 2023.
The data was once again separated with two suppliers, the FCAI shared 4,820 EVs – and those supplied by the Electric Vehicle Council – 1,594 – from Tesla and Polestar who quit the FCAI earlier this year because of its contrarian stance to the new vehicle emissions standards.
EV Sales Breakdown – October 2024
| FCAI vFacts | 4,820 |
| EVC (Polestar + Tesla) | 1,594 |
| EV Sales Total (FCAI + EVC) | 6,414 |
| Total Vehicle Sales (FCAI + EVC) | 99,969 |
MG overtook Tesla with the MG4 selling 1,486 EVs, followed by the Tesla Model Y with 1,042 sales in October.
The Tesla Model 3 took the third spot on the EV sales podium with just 422 sales, highlighting a big drop compared to September when it sold 1,151 units. It’s also Tesla Model 3’s lowest month of sales in 2024.
BYD took the fourth spot with the Atto 3 raking 330 sales while the Seal was in the fifth position with 313 sales.
With the Dolphin getting only 67 sales, this made October, the lowest month for BYD’s EV sales in 2024 with just 710 sales as the brand continues to focus on PHEVs with the Sealion 6 and recently launched Shark 6 ute.
Other notable EVs in October included the Kia EV5 which showed 97 sales after the official launch earlier in the month.
The best-selling EVs in October 2024 were:
- MG MG4 – 1486 sales
- Tesla Model Y – 1042 sales
- Tesla Model 3 – 422 sales
- BYD Atto 3 – 330 sales
- BYD Seal – 313 sales
- BMW iX1 – 238 sales
- BMW iX2 – 160 sales
- Volvo EX30 – 159 sales
- GWM Ora – 154 sales
- BMW i4 – 142 sales
- Volvo XC40 Recharge – 132 sales
- Kia EV6 – 129 sales
- MG ZS EV – 110 sales
- Kia EV5 – 97 sales
The Driven is waiting to hear back from various manufacturers regarding sales of some EV models, and this list will be updated once they’re received. These include numbers for the Kona Electric and more.
“Many of these new EV sales are in the highly competitive medium passenger segment which already records almost fifty per cent of sales being electric but the segment accounting for just over four per cent of total sales.” FCAI CEO Tony Weber said in a statement.
With MG showcasing that aggressive pricing will move vehicles, other brands will be paying attention to this to see how affordable EVs can be bought to drivers sooner.
This is highlighted in the flurry of incentives being offered by existing and new brands entering the market. These range from price cuts, referral programs, charging equipment bonuses as well as free public charging offers.
The market is showing signs of resilliance as many new brands aim to deliver new models to drivers before Christmas, making it quite an exciting time in the EV transition.
See full details of EV sales for each month of the year in our database here.
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.