Tesla dominated electric vehicle sales in Australia during 2019 – and outsold some of the best-known carmakers in the world in the process.
The all-electric startup accounted for more than half of all electric vehicles sold during 2019 in Australia, according to data from the National Transport Commission (NTC).
Tesla doesn’t report sales to the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries for VFACTS, but the NTC has collated state registration data to track how many Model 3, Model S, and Model X buyers there were in 2019.
Tesla registered 2950 cars in Australia last year according to the NTC data, which doesn’t include vehicles sold after December 18.
Given the company tends to push hard with deliveries late in each quarter of the year, it’s likely the final sales figure was comfortably above 3000 when cars sold after December 18 are included.
That’s up from just 1005 cars in 2018 – an increase of 194 per cent.
The arrival of the more affordable Model 3 sedan was no doubt to thank for the increase in sales, with deliveries starting in August last year.
The figures show Tesla as the dominant electric brand in Australia, with registrations for all other electric vehicles totalling 2925 in 2019.
The Hyundai Ioniq found just 546 homes across its electric, plug-in hybrid, and series hybrid options, and NTC data says the brand sold fewer than 500 Kona Electrics.
The BMW i3 found fewer than 100 homes, Jaguar sold 155 examples of the I-Pace, while 11 Mercedes-Benz EQC SUVs were sold after its arrival late in the year. Nissan sold 408 examples of the Leaf.
Tesla also outsold the following brands, excluding low-volume supercar and ultra high-end carmakers:
- Ram (2868 sales)
- Peugeot (2445)
- Jaguar (2274)
- Fiat (2053)
- Haval (1706)
- Great Wall (1401)
- Ssangyong (1040)
- Alfa Romeo (891)
- Infiniti (571)
- Citroen (400)
- Chrysler (292)
- Genesis (103)
Tesla Australia declined to comment on the sales figures from the National Transport Commission.
