Canberra's Tesla obsession has rolled into a half-year sales record for the brand in the ACT with the biggest electric vehicle the company sells, the Model Y SUV, almost tripling the sales of its closest local rival last month.
There were 173 Tesla Model Ys delivered across the ACT in June. The next biggest seller, also a Chinese-built passenger car, was the $23,990 driveaway MG ZS, with 56 sales for the month.
Despite rising cost of living pressures and increased mortgage interest rates, record numbers of ACT buyers are still able to afford to buy or lease a Model Y, which starts at $67,000 for the entry-level version, or a Model 3 at $57,400.
An unexpected price cut of several thousand dollars arrived late in June for all Tesla models but pricing appears to have little or no effect on consumer demand.
During the first six months of this year, 1162 Tesla cars were sold into Canberra, almost 1000 more than in the previous six-month period of 2022.
The brand's market penetration in the national capital, at 11.4 per cent, is almost double that of it nationally. It was also the territory's best-selling brand in 2023.
Electric cars outsold diesel vehicles in the ACT this year, with a surge of 339 per cent in sales volume across all EV brands in the first six months of 2023, compared with the same period last year.
The unprecedented surge in Chinese-built Model 3 and Model Y Tesla sales in the ACT has come at the expense of a raft of conventional combustion-engine vehicles such as the once-ubiquitous Mazda CX-5 (down 31 per cent year to date), Mitsubishi ASX (down 40.7 per cent), and Toyota Camry (37.7 per cent).
Of the Japanese brands once so popular in Canberra, only Subaru has managed to defend its ground.
The huge market lead enjoyed by Toyota in the first six months of last year has now greatly diminished. Without a competitive electric car to compete with the likes of Tesla, BYD and Polestar, the biggest selling car brand in the world has lost an average of 100 sales a month in Canberra compared with last year.
Mazda, too, has lost some ground but not to the extent of Toyota, despite that it too, has only a few hybrid models to offer.
In China, Tesla's closest electric arch-rival is the BYD company. It sells just one EV model in Australia but June was a huge month for the brand, with 1532 sold nationally. However, the brand's expected push into the Canberra market has been much slower than expected and its promised local "experience centre" has not eventuated.
Nationally, new car sales jumped 25 per cent in June - as they did in the ACT - compared with the same month last year. Some of this gain was attributed to the "pull-forward" effect of the end to the financial year.
The Toyota Hi-Lux was the country's highest-selling model in June with 6142 sales, followed by the Tesla Model Y (5560), the Ford Ranger (5334), MG ZS (3756) and Toyota RAV4 (2858).
ACT'S most popular cars in 2023
- Tesla Model 3
- Tesla Model Y
- Ford Ranger 4X4
- Toyota RAV4
- MG ZS
