Tesla’s new vehicle sales in Australia dropped 76% year-over-year in April, but the company’s local chief remains optimistic about a rebound as deliveries of the refreshed Model Y are set to begin.
The Elon Musk-led company sold just 500 vehicles in April, down from 2,077 a year earlier, according to data released this week by the Electric Vehicle Council. The result represents a 0.5% share of the overall market, while battery electric vehicles accounted for 6.6% of total sales. Tesla captured 8.3% of the BEV segment.
The decline was largely attributed to limited inventory of the outgoing Model Y, which accounted for 56% of Tesla’s sales in April. Only 280 units of the SUV were delivered last month—the lowest monthly result since its Australian debut in late 2022.
The updated Model Y starts at AUD 58,900 ($38,068) for the rear-wheel-drive version and AUD 68,900 ($44,500) for the long-range all-wheel-drive trim. New orders placed now are expected to be delivered in June.
Year-to-date, Tesla has sold 5,660 vehicles in Australia, down 62% from 14,866 in the same period last year. Sales for the February to April period were also down 28.4% compared to the previous three months (November to January).
Despite the slump, Tesla Australia Country Director Thom Drew told local outlet Drive that customer interest is rising sharply, with the company hitting last week a record number of test drives.
“When we launched orders back in January, we had an enormous response to the launch edition,” Drew said. “We’ve only just started test drives in the last couple of weeks. The boat’s been slowly making its way around the country.”
“Now we’re seeing that second wave come through and a lot of interest. I think we had a record test drive week, last week, in our entire history.”
Drew added that the launch edition of the refreshed Model Y, which included an acceleration boost with the long-range variant, led to an early sales skew toward that version. He expects sales to normalize with the majority opting for the RWD model moving forward.
Chinese automaker BYD ranked as the tenth best-selling brand overall in April, with 3,207 sales across its lineup, including the newly launched Sealion 6 SUV. BYD’s Shark pickup, priced from AUD 57,900 before on-road costs, recorded 1,293 sales, down from 2,810 in March.
Geely-owned Polestar more than doubled its sales year-on-year, delivering 202 vehicles in April compared with 100 in the same month last year.
Tesla launched on Tuesday a cheaper version of its Model Y SUV in the U.S., a long range rear-wheel drive version starting from $37,990 with the federal tax credit included (and $44,990 without).
The long range all-wheel drive version’s prices begin at $48,990 in Tesla‘s home market.
In April, Tesla’s new registrations dropped by 54% in France, marking the company’s fourth consecutive monthly contraction. The Netherlands followed with a 73.8% drop to 382 units in April while in Sweden, Tesla sales fell 80.7% to the lowest monthly total since October 2022.
Tesla’s Model Y was Norway’s top-selling car (across all powertrains) for the second consecutive month, with 869 units sold in April.
The U.S. brand sold 976 EVs last month, up nearly 12% year-on-year. In Italy, sales also jumped 29.3% to 446 units.
Tesla wholesales in China reached 58,459 vehicles last month, data from the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA) showed this week. The figures include models sold in China and overseas exports.
