For the primary time in recorded historical past, Chinese language electrical car (EV) large BYD offered extra automobiles in Australia than US-based rival Tesla final month – although its lead will not be attributed to the recognition of its fashions.

In January 2024, BYD offered 1310 automobiles in Australia, consisting of 589 Seal sedans, 465 Atto 3 SUVs, and 256 Dolphin hatchbacks – the latter of which is the most affordable EV at the moment on sale regionally.

In the identical month, Tesla reported 723 examples of the Mannequin 3 sedan and 384 Mannequin Y SUVs as offered, for a complete of 1107 gross sales – its lowest end result since July 2022 when simply 4 EVs have been delivered to clients, owing to its then-quarterly replace schedule.

Nevertheless, it’s understood Tesla’s drop just isn’t as a result of patrons are turning away from its automobiles, relatively the model has been affected by two main points stopping its EVs being delivered to clients.

Australian deliveries of the facelifted Tesla Mannequin Three started in December 2023, nonetheless the electrical sedan’s roll-out quickly got here to a halt after it was found the top-tether restraint anchorage for its rear-middle seat was not accessible.

This resulted in a stop-sale for the Mannequin 3 and a subsequent recall, with Australian deliveries solely restarting final week.

On the similar time, a ship containing what is known to be a big cargo of Tesla Mannequin Ys – the best-selling car amongst non-public patrons in 2023 – and a few Mannequin 3s was turned again to China after a plague of stink bugs have been found onboard.

The car-carrying ship, the Glovis Caravel, offloaded its cargo onto the Lapis Arrow which is now en path to Australia.

The January gross sales chart end result was additionally not a report for BYD, which has exceeded 1400 gross sales in 4 earlier months – occurring 3 times with solely the Atto Three on sale. 

Gross sales of EVs elevated by simply 0.eight per cent in January 2024 in comparison with the identical month a yr prior, with 4893 battery-powered automobiles reported as offered – nonetheless that is largely attributed to Tesla’s stalled begin to the yr.

In 2023, Tesla 46,116 gross sales in Australia was sufficient to account for about 53 per cent of all EV gross sales regionally from simply two fashions.