Tesla has nearly doubled its best monthly sales on record in Australia – and the Model Y electric SUV was the third-best selling new vehicle in September after a record number of shipments.
US electric car specialist Tesla nearly doubled his best sales month in Australia in September – and ranked one of its models third overall on the sales charts – after a record number of shipments ended months of chronic stock shortages.
Sales data released by the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) today lists 5969 Tesla vehicles as delivered in September 2022 – placing it in seventh as a brand on the sales charts ahead of Volkswagen, MG, and Subaru.
It is nearly double the 3397 vehicles sold in Tesla’s previous best month on record, August 2022. The electric-car maker only began reporting sales data to VFACTS in March.
The Tesla Model Y SUV ranked as the third-best selling model in September, with 4369 deliveries reported – behind the top-selling Toyota HiLux (5170) and Ford Ranger (4890) utes, and ahead of popular models such as the Mazda CX-5, Mitsubishi Outlander, Toyota RAV4.
The strong sales result is driven by the arrival of a record number of vehicle shipments since the end of July – backed by upgrades to Tesla’s Shanghai, China factory which boosted production to record levels.
In the four months prior to August, Tesla reported only 240 cars as delivered – after COVID-19 lockdowns in China brought the company’s factory to a halt through much of March and April.
China became the third largest supplier of new vehicles to Australia last month, with the 5969 Tesla vehicles contributing to a total of 14,889 – behind Japan (23,880) and Thailand (20,663), but in what’s believed to be a first, ahead of South Korea (14,443).
With 14,023 deliveries reported since the start of the year, Tesla has surpassed the 12,094 deliveries it reported for all of 2021 — with three months still to go – and accounts for almost 65 per cent of all electric vehicles reported as sold so far this year.
The Model Y’s record finish breaks the previous best monthly sales result for an electric car by 50 per cent, set in March with 3097 Tesla Model 3s. Customer deliveries of the Model Y began in August, with 1017 reaching customers before the end of the month.
The remainder of the 5969 Tesla vehicles sold are Model 3 sedans (1610 vehicles) – its third-best monthly sales result, after the 3097 sold in March, and 2380 delivered in August.
It was the 12th best-selling new vehicle outright last month, and the second-best selling passenger car, behind the Hyundai i30 (1733).
Electric cars accounted for 7.7 per cent of all new vehicles sold last month – four in five of which were a Tesla badge – and 2.7 per cent of sales so far this year.
Battery-electric vehicles outsold hybrid and plug-in hybrid cars combined in September, at 7247 and 5141 respectively.
September sales results for electric cars remain in the hundreds, rather than thousands – including 140 sales for the Hyundai Ioniq 5, 85 for the Polestar 2, and 60 for the Kia EV6.
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