After months of delivery delays, a record number of shipping arrivals in recent weeks could see Tesla rank among Australia’s Top 10 brands once the next round of sales data is released.
Electric-car specialist Tesla is on track for its best sales month in Australia on record, if the latest shipping data is any indication.
Reputable Tesla shipping tracker VedaPrime reports another ship containing Tesla cars arrived in Australia on Saturday – the fifth in the span of two weeks, believed to represent a record for the electric-car leader.
It’s unclear exactly how many cars are in each shipment, however VedaPrime says “thousands” have arrived in Australia – and “thousands more [are still] to come this quarter [by the end of September]”, with “records [to] be smashed.”
It represents a U-turn from the five months prior, when COVID-19 lockdowns in China slammed the brakes on Tesla production in March and April, and saw only 240 cars reported as sold – referring to deliveries, rather than orders placed – in Australia between April and July 2022.
Powering the boost in deliveries are – among other factors – upgrades to Tesla’s Shanghai factory last month, which reportedly is now capable of producing up to 14,000 Model Y SUVs, and 7700 Model 3 sedans per week.
Since it began reporting sales figures to the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries earlier this year, Tesla’s best sales month on record was March, when 3097 cars were reported as sold.
Between January and March 2022, VedaPrime reported the arrival of three shipments of Tesla cars from China.
In each of the three-month periods from April to June, July to September and October to December 2021, four shipments of cars were reported to have docked in Australia.
Whereas it previously took three months for four ships of cars to reach Australian shores, Tesla has this month completed the same feat in just two weeks.
The final number of new Tesla cars delivered in August 2022 will not be known until early next month – when sales figures are released by the FCAI.
However, based on Drive’s estimates, the August 2022 sales figures could rank Tesla inside Australia’s Top 10 selling brands for the first time. Depending on how other brands perform, Tesla even has a chance of making it inside the Top Five this month.
The 3097 cars Tesla reported as sold in March 2022 placed it 10th on the industry sales charts.
While figures vary from month to month, Top Five brands customarily report at least 6000 sales per month.
Since the start of this year, Tesla has reported 4657 cars as sold.
Included in the latest Tesla deliveries is the popular Model 3 sedan and the new Model Y SUV – deliveries of which began earlier this month, after order books opened in June.
While deliveries are ramping up to record levels for Tesla, wait times remain.
Tesla’s website currently lists estimated delivery dates between February and May 2023 for new Model 3 or Model Y orders placed today.
The post Tesla on track for record sales in Australia this month appeared first on Drive.