After an impressive 28-year run, the Toyota Camry was finally ousted as the midsize car sales leader in Australia. It comes as no surprise that the Tesla Model 3 was the car to take away the Camry's title. Not long ago, Tesla was still a small, niche, startup automaker, but now its cars are making best-selling lists across the globe.
Yes, the Camry, the gas-powered car arguably most often compared to the Tesla Model 3 when it comes to cost of ownership analyses. Toyota makes the Camry in traditional gas and hybrid configurations, though it's not available as a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) or a fully electric vehicle. Some may argue that if Toyota hadn't been so slow in welcoming plug-ins, an electric version of the Camry could have arrived long ago and already enjoyed much success.
At any rate, according to a recent report by Electrek, the Camry has been the best-selling midsize car in Australia for 28 consecutive years, which is quite a feat. However, it was robbed of its 29th victory when Tesla sold 1,806 Model 3 electric sedans in Oz in December 2022. In total, Tesla sold 10,877 Model 3s in the land down under, to Toyota's 9,538 Camrys for 2022 as a whole.
The Tesla Model 3 has now officially become the best-selling midsize car in Australia, and it's the first EV to win the sales race. As Toyota put out its press release raving about its sales successes in the country, it still included the Camry as a winner, though it changed the vehicle's segment to (medium cars under $60,000). Check out the automaker's statement below, which was shared by Electrek:
"Toyota vehicles were the best-selling models in nine market segments last year: Corolla (small cars), Camry (medium cars <$60K), RAV4 (medium SUVs), LandCruiser Prado (large SUVs), LandCruiser wagon (upper large SUVs), HiAce (light buses), HiAce (vans), HiLux (4×2 PU/CC) and HiLux (4×4 PU/CC)."
While the Camry can be had in Australia for as little as $30,000, the Model 3 starts at $64,000. Considering that the Tesla costs more the double, it makes the Model 3s win here even more impressive.
