Further confirming the EV-centric nature of the Canberra market, sales of the Tesla Model Y electric vehicle in the ACT in July were more than double that of the biggest-selling vehicle across the rest of the country.
And for the first time, more Chinese-made cars were sold into the ACT this year than those imported from any other country. Elsewhere in Australia, Chinese-made vehicles still lagged behind those produced from Japan, Thailand and Korea.
There were 135 Model Y deliveries into Canberra last month, while Ford sold 64 of its newly-released Rangers.
The Thai-built Ranger utility - recently upgraded, with a new turbo-diesel engine shared with the VW Amarok 4WD - romped into the number one national sales position with 5143 sales.
The strong performance of the Elon Musk-owned brand in Canberra - which Tesla insiders refer to as "our spirit market" - also made China the ACT's largest source of new vehicles for the first time in history.
Combined, the two Chinese-built Tesla Model Y and Model 3 continue to lead new vehicle brand sales in the ACT for the first seven months of this year, ahead of Toyota, with Mazda in third place.
The ACT is the only state or territory in Australia where this market anomaly occurs.
However, for the month of July only and for the first time this year, Toyota and Mazda finally managed to claw back some ACT sales ground from Tesla. Meanwhile they face a fresh assault, with new EV models arriving this month from MG and BYD.
Nationally, Toyota was the leader with nearly 16.4 per cent share of the new vehicle market year to date, followed by Mazda in a distant second place with an distant 8.7 per cent.
However, another strange anomaly in the ACT alone is that Toyota's share of the local new car market is going backwards fast this year. Year to date, its share of the ACT new vehicle market has fallen 50.5 per cent.
Toyota is the world's biggest vehicle manufacturer and focused its research and development on hybrid engine technology, while the preference shown by consumers across much of the developed world is now swinging toward "pure" electric vehicles.
There have been 2669 Chinese-made vehicles - largely from Tesla, but also from Polestar, MG, BYD, Haval and LDV - sold into the Canberra market so far this year, just nudging out Japanese import volumes of 2650.
The pace of Chinese vehicle imports into Australia is growing at a phenomenal rate. Sales of Chinese-made cars nationally reached 15,853 in July 2023, up 130 per cent compared with the same month last year.
Despite the fast pace of electric vehicle sales into the ACT, they still sell less than half the volume of petrol combustion models.
Around one in every five new vehicles sold into the ACT this year has been an EV. In proportion of electric cars to combustion vehicles sold, the national capital's take-up at 21.8 per cent was more than double that of the next jurisdiction, Tasmania, according to the EV Council
In its latest State Of Electric Vehicles report released late last month, the council found that that EV sales are on track to more than double in 2023, while Australia continues to lag comparable nations on consumer choice until necessary policy reform is introduced.
The Federal government had pledged to introduce new fuel efficiency standards legislation by the end of the year. Depending on quickly the efficiency reforms are introduced, some car brands may be significantly penalised.
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