Tesla trumps German rivals according to sales figures

Tesla keeps its local sales figures close to its chest but leaked numbers reportedly reveal exactly what it has been hiding this whole time.

Tesla’s electric revolution is picking up speed in Australia.

New sales figures reported by the motoring.com.au website suggest the brand sold 3793 vehicles in 2019, eclipsing well established brands such as Peugeot and Jaguar.

The figures are unconfirmed because Tesla does not reveal its sales in Australia.

But the numbers suggest that the Model 3 has been the number one selling luxury car since its launch in August last year.

It also outsold established mainstream sedans such as the Mazda6, Subaru Liberty and Honda Accord.

The Tesla Model 3 has arrived in Australia.

The motoring.com.au report says the brand imported just 250 cars in the first six months of last year, but things took off dramatically with the arrival of the Model 3.

The sales surge was the result of more than three years of pent-up local demand for the vehicle. Tesla first took deposits for the car in March 2016.

The Model 3 sedan is priced from about $73,000 drive-away in Australia for the base model and rises to about $106,000 for the top-spec all-wheel drive performance version.

The Tesla Model 3 has arrived in Australia.

Since August, an estimated 3000-plus Model 3s have been delivered, putting it above direct rivals the Mercedes-Benz C-Class (2628) and well ahead of the BMW 3 Series (1503) and Audi A4 (481). It was only outsold by the Toyota Camry.

The result would mimic those in the US where the Model 3 has routinely outsold its much more established luxury rivals.

Tesla reported sales globally of about 367,500 vehicles in 2019, a 50 per cent increase on the previous year. The number is expected to rise dramatically this year as the company’s new factory in China gets up to speed.

The Tesla Model 3 has arrived in Australia.

Tesla’s strong results in 2019 and equally optimistic outlook for 2020 have been part of the reason the company’s stock has risen to new heights. The company has just surpassed $US100 billion ($146b) market capitalisation, which makes it the third most valuable car maker after Toyota and the Volkswagen Group.

The Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI), which reports new car sales with the exception of Tesla, reported about 3000 electric cars and plug-in hybrid were sold in 2019. This would mean Tesla outsold every other electric car by some margin in the past year.

Sales of standard hybrids also boomed in 2019, which is another sign Aussies are starting to look for alternatives to conventional cars.

The FCAI reported more than 30,000 hybrids were sold in 2019. And a mammoth 27,846 of those sales belonged to Toyota.

Toyota’s hybrid sales were greatly boosted by the introduction of the hybrid RAV4 SUV, which was named the News Corp Car or the Year, joining the Camry and Corolla hybrids. Toyota predicts sales will rise to 40,000 this year thanks to the arrival of C-HR hybrid and coming Yaris petrol-electric version.