Chinese and Korean brands catching Tesla – carsales.com.au

Tesla continues to dominate electric vehicle sales in Australia, but its share of the growing EV market has slipped just below 50 per cent, allowing 29 other brands to fight over the remaining half of the segment.

With 6835 reported sales, the Tesla Model Y remained the top-selling EV for the first three months of 2024, according to VFACTS figures supplied by the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI).

Second on the sales charts was the Tesla Model 3 sedan (5954) followed by two BYDs – the Atto 3 small SUV (2220) and Seal sedan (1573) – and the MG4 (1335) and BYD Dolphin (688) hatchbacks.

The Korean-made Kia EV6 was the top-selling EV not produced in China, with a modest 589 sales.

While the rate of growth of EV sales has slowed, Aussies continue to snap up more EVs than ever before.

Australians bought 25,591 battery-electric vehicles in the first three months of 2024, representing 8.4 per cent of the market; in March, that figure increased to 9.5 per cent of the market, which is the highest it’s ever been.

The growth is being led by newcomer EV brands, predominantly Tesla and BYD. Between them they accounted for more than two-thirds of all EVs sold in the first quarter.

But luxury brands more broadly continue to do the heavy lifting on EVs, accounting for 63 per cent of those 25,591 electric cars bought in the first three months of the year.

Of course, the numbers are pumped up by Tesla, but even in isolation other luxury brands perform strongly.

BMW was the fifth biggest EV brand, for example, its 1423 sales accounting for almost a quarter of the brand’s overall sales.

Mercedes-Benz was the eighth biggest-selling EV brand and electric cars made up 18 per cent of its first-quarter sales.

And Volvo’s 579 EV sales snuck it onto the list of top 10 best-selling EV brands while accounting for 31 per cent of its overall sales.

With a single high-end model, the Taycan, Porsche has transitioned almost seven per cent of its sales to electric.

It bodes well for the imminent introduction of the all-electric second-generation Macan, which is the next big step on the brand’s path to making 80 per cent of its sales EV by 2030.

Conversely, heavy-hitters across the broader new-vehicle market continue to struggle with EV sales.

Toyota started selling its first EV, the bZ4X, and it’s been a slow seller.

That’s no surprise – Toyota predicted the bZ4X would be niche – but when compared with Tesla and BYD, Toyota’s 311 sales (first deliveries were in February) look decidedly underwhelming.

Just 0.6 per cent of Toyota’s were powered purely by electricity; but a sizeable 43 per cent of Toyotas were hybrid.

Mazda is also selling almost no EVs, Nissan’s LEAF has slowed to a trickle and Ford’s pricey Mustang Mach-E is struggling to lure buyers.

Expect things to heat up soon though, especially at the entry-level part of the market.

GWM recently dropped the price of its Ora to $35,990 drive-away, while the rival MG4 – our 2023 Car of the Year – is now priced from $39,990 drive-away.

The MG4 is already proving popular, slotting into fifth on the list of top selling EVs.

Medium SUVs make up the biggest market segment and they’ve accounted for a lot of the EV attention.

And buyers are responding, with 15 per cent of all mid-size SUVs now powered solely by electricity.

It’s indicative of the demand that could flow to other parts of the market if competitive vehicles arrive.

One country continues to dominate EV sales in Australia: China. Eighty per cent of the EVs sold in the first three months of this year were sourced from China – but most of them weren’t from Chinese brands.

Of the top 10 brands that sell EVs, five of them – Tesla, BYD, MG, Volvo and Polestar – source all their electric vehicles sold in Australia from China.

And BMW builds its iX3 in China, too.

In comparison, eight per cent of EVs in the first quarter of 2024 came from Germany, seven per cent from Korea and less than two per cent from Japan.

If you live in Canberra then you will have noticed plenty of EVs on the road.

Whereas EVs now make up 8.4 per cent of new-vehicle sales across the country, in the Australian Capital Territory the number is 21 per cent.

Yep, more than one in five new vehicle sales in our nation’s capital is an EV.

At the other end of the scale is the Northern Territory, where just 2.9 per cent of new cars were EVs.

Still, that’s not a bad result given the vast distances and requirements for off-roaders!

Victoria is something of a surprise, with just 7.5 per cent of cars sold being EVs, while in Queensland that number is 8.2 per cent.

And of the big states NSW leads the way with 9.5 per cent EV take-up.