MG 4 outsells Tesla Model 3 as cut-price electric cars arrive

news7g12/05/2023

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MG 4 outsells Tesla Model 3 as cut-price electric cars arrive

There’s a changing dynamic in Australia’s emerging electric vehicle (EV) market, with clubhouse leader Tesla still growing sales but losing market share, while price leaders MG and BYD build momentum.

Emblematic of this is the fact the MG 4 (835 sales) beat the Tesla Model 3 (788) in November, placing it second on the EV charts behind the dominant Tesla Model Y (3151).

For context, the rear-wheel drive MG 4, which kicks off below $40,000, more than doubled the monthly sales tally from the Volkswagen Golf (351).

Put another way, in a few brief months on sale the MG 4 has found 2527 buyers, more than double the full-year haul for the Honda Civic (1164).

There are a few other new faces on the EV charts too. The BYD Atto 3 (668 sales in November) remains at the pointy end, but has been joined by the smaller BYD Dolphin on 589 sales, in fifth place.

All told, there were 8646 new EVs sold in Australia during November, equal to 7.7 per cent share of the total market.

Of this, Tesla captured 45.6 per cent market share. That’s no mean feat, but it had more than 60 per cent across 2022. BYD grabbed 14.5 per cent monthly share to be second on the brand EV charts.

While the overall EV market share of 7.7 per cent in November is a relatively modest number, it’s probably more helpful to look at those areas of the market where there’s actual choice.

For instance EVs took 16.5 per cent market share in the passenger car segments (sedans and hatchbacks) and outsold hybrids, while in the SUV market, EVs took 8.9 per cent share of the total.

Vehicle segments including Small Cars over $40k, Medium Cars over $60k, and Medium SUVs over $60k were all led by an EV: respectively the MG 4, Tesla Model 3, and Tesla Model Y.

It’s the light commercial space where EVs have no real impact: just 0.09 per cent market share in an area of the industry dominated by diesel power.

Year-to-date to the end of November, EV sales in Australia tally 80,446 units, up a substantial 184 per cent over 2022.

The table below lists most of the top-selling EV models in November, with a caveat: The data doesn’t include EV models that sell alongside internal combustion models with the same badge, key examples being the MG ZS, Hyundai Kona, and BMW X1/iX1.

We will bring you a full-year 2023 wrap of the EV market in greater detail with all this data at the start of next year.

Top EV sales in November 2023