Tesla sales in January dip despite multiple incentives

According to the latest January 2026 sales data released by the Electric Vehicle Council (EVC), Tesla has kicked off 2026 with just 501 sales for the month, down 32% from the same month last year.

The sales consisted of 288 Model Y sales and 213 Model 3 sales in January 2026, which fell in the first month of the quarter, when Tesla sales are usually at their lowest.

During January, Tesla had multiple offers that helped with sales, including a trade-in offer of $3,000 for buyers looking to purchase the Model 3. 

On top of that, there was a full self-driving (FSD) Supervised transfer offer for owners who had pre-purchased FSD and wanted to upgrade to a newer Tesla model with the hardware to enable the software.

Tesla reported even lower sales in April last year, at just 500 units, driven by the ongoing wait for the refreshed Model Y that was not yet available for customer deliveries. Official deliveries of that model started in May, helping the brand get consistent volumes throughout the rest of the year.

January was also the first month that the company offered the recently upgraded 5-year unlimited km warranty for any buyers who get into a car as of the start of 2026. This warranty is up from the earlier 4-year or 80,000 km warranty being offered previously.

During the same month, Tesla Model 3 and Y cars received best-in-class ANCAP awards, with the Model Y achieving the highest overall safety score of any vehicle ever assessed by ANCAP.

To kickstart the month of February, we spotted that Tesla was offering a $2,000 trade-in offer on the Model Y SUV as well.

This incentive would run for February and March when buyers purchase a Model Y Premium RWD or Premium Long Range variant that’s either new or demonstrator model.

At the same time, we noticed that dozens of Model Y vehicles with Tesla’s full-self-driving (FSD) Supervised were available in inventory, with those cars having a further $1,770 price reduction on RWD models and $2,070 on AWD versions.

Model 3 also had discounts on various FSD Supervised-equipped and standard examples, with some vehicles showing up to $3,300 off the price.

Newer cars also have the indicator stalks reinstated and can be picked up straight from local inventory.

Earlier this week, Tesla renamed its models in Australia to bring them in line with global naming and announced no cheaper models for our market. 

This added the Premium badge in front of the existing non-Performance models of both Model 3 and Model Y vehicles.

Tesla has been the country’s best-selling EV brand for over a decade with its Model 3 and Model Y, seeing a surge in recent years.

Now with increased competition, Tesla’s sales appear to show a slowdown. With this being just the first month of the year, we will keep a track of how Australia’s best-selling EV brand goes for the rest of 2026 and whether it can hold onto the title of Australia’s best-selling EV brand.