Tesla Smashes EV Sales Records In Australia

The Tesla Model 3 finally got to Australia in early August and just two months later, Aussie auto pundits are seeing record-breaking sales and deliveries for this luxury compact electric car for the year.

Authoritative Aussie Tesla experts calculate that in September alone, Tesla delivered more Model 3s in Australia than its entire sales of the Model S all-electric five-door liftback and Model X mid-size all-electric luxury sports activity coupé in 2018. This total came to some 1,200 units of these two electric vehicles (EVs) in September, according to The Driven.

Sources surmise Model 3 sales for September might actually have exceeded 1,500 units. They note that even if this number was just 1,200, it would still account for five percent of the monthly sales of all new passenger vehicles in Australia.

That's good news for the Land Down Under where sales of petrol engine cars have been plummeting the past 18 months.

Model 3 sales ranging from 1,200 to 1,500 units for September will rank the Model 3 among the top five in new passenger cars sales. It will also rank the Model 3 among the top 15 of all new car sales, which include petrol SUVs. All three versions of the Model 3 are available in Australia.

Tesla, Inc. won't confirm these numbers, as is its usual practice, but experts assert their estimates are pretty close to the mark given the data they have from VINs (vehicle identification numbers) and export documents.

It's known that 2,414 Model 3s arrived in Australia on the first three cargo ships in August. What isn't known, however, is how many Model 3s arrived on the next three cargo ships.

Experts estimate that by the end of the year, the total number of Tesla EVs in Australia will have nearly doubled from the estimated 4,000 Model S and Model X EVs that arrived before the Model 3.

EV sales in Australia are rising, and are the only rays of sunshine in the otherwise bleak Australian car market landscape. New EVs rolled out by Hyundai such as the Ioniq and the Kona convinced Aussies EVs were worth the investment. The unprecedented success of the Model 3 will take the EV segment to new heights.