Australia March 2022: Tesla Model 3 lands at #5 in market up 1.2%

The Tesla Model 3 finally appears in the Australian monthly charts.

07/04 update: Now with Top 272 All-models ranking.

Despite stock and shipping issues and waiting time for most models going from 3 to 12 months, the Australian new vehicle market edges up 1.2% to 101,213 in March, the strongest result for the month since 2018 (record 106,988). This is the second straight positive result in Australia after four months in negative. The year-to-date tally now stands at 262,436 units, down just -0.5% over the same period a year ago. The big news this month is Tesla finally sharing sales data for Australia which gives the true extend of BEV penetration in the country. 5,532 BEV were registered in March for a 5.5% share. Petrol is down -11.6% to 50,272, Diesel is actually up 3.6% to 33,379, Hybrid is up 14.1% to 7,474 and PHEV up 49.3% to a meagre 427 units. 

Looking at sales by buyer, private sales are up a very encouraging 7.8% to 55,046, fleet sales drop -5.8% to 33,810, rental sales sink -20% to 5,593 and government fleets gain 11.5% to 2,637. As for sales by State and Territory, New South Wales is down -6.2% to 32,224, Victoria up 5.3% to 27,155, Queensland down -1.7% to 21,214, Western Australia up 5.3% to 10,016, South Australia down -0.1% to 6,830, Tasmania up 8.2% to 1,768, ACT down -6.2% to 1,560 and Northern Territory down -0.2% to 916.

It seems the SUV craze has somewhat plateaued with 50.3% market share vs. 51.7% a year ago with sales down -1.6% to 50,893. In contrast light commercials are up 4.2% to 24,194 units and 23.9% share vs. 23.3% in March 2021 and passenger cars are actually up for once at +3% to 21,999 and 21.7% share vs. 21.4% a year ago. Looking at the country of origin of cars sold in Australia this month, Japan remains at the top with 32,553 units (-8.9%), followed by Thailand at 24,025 (+10.4%), South Korea at 13,037 (-1.1%), China at 11,539 (+90.3%) and Germany at 3,729 (-6.5%).

In the brands ranking, Toyota (+2.4%) remains ultra dominant at 21.6% share, almost double any other manufacturer. Mazda (+4.3%) follows in 2nd place but the most impressive rise this month goes to Mitsubishi (+40.1%) staying in third position with 8.9% share. Hyundai (-4.8%) is back above Kia (+4.3%) while Ford (-29%) is in serious trouble at #6. MG (+20%) stands at a record #7 for the 5th month in a row, distancing Isuzu Ute (+4.2%) and Nissan (-30.5%) with opposing fortunes. Tesla makes its first appearance in the monthly charts at #10 with 3.1% share. Further down, notice Jaguar (+35.4%), Suzuki (+30.8%), Porsche (+27.2%), Ram (+25.4%), Land Rover (+21%), Renault (+19.4%) and Volvo (+5.1%) all posting market-defying gains.

Model-wise, the Top 4 models all display stellar double-digit year-on-year gains. The Toyota Hilux (+18.9%) leads the way for the third consecutive month with 6.2% share, a new record eclipsing its previous best of 6% in April 2020 and the highest market share reached by any model in Australia in over 11 years, since the Holden Commodore in December 2008 (7.1%). The Hilux is however falling just short of its all-time volume record of 6,537 from June 2020, but breaks its 4×4 volume record at 4,911 vs. a previous best of 4,811 in June 2020. The Toyota RAV4 (+30.9%) remains in 2nd place above the Mitsubishi Triton (+52.8%) posting another fabulous month and outselling the Ford Ranger (-25.7%) for the second straight month. The Triton also beats the Ranger in the 4×4 segment at 3,446 vs. 2,743. The Ranger is now in runout model with the new generation due to arrive mid-year. The Mazda CX-5 is up 24.8% to #5 and #2 SUV in the country. 

For its first time with available monthly results, the Tesla Model 3 lands directly at #5 overall, becoming the best-selling car in Australia above the Hyundai i30 (#7) and Toyota Corolla (#10). Notice also the great performances of the Isuzu D-Max (+22.7%) and Toyota Prado (+84.1%) in the remainder of the Top 10. Below, the Mazda CX-30 (+49.3%) continues to shine as do the Mitsubishi Pajero Sport (+88.4%) up 42 ranks on February to #13, the Kia Sportage (+98.4%) lifted by the new generation, the Mitsubishi Outlander (+49.2%), Nissan Navara (+43.6%) and Suzuki Baleno (+121.8%).

Previous month: Australia February 2022: First market uptick in 5 months (+1.6%), Mitsubishi Triton, MG ZS and Mazda CX-30 break records

One year ago: Australia March 2021: Market up 22.4% year-on-year and 0.6% on two years ago, Mazda up 58.2%, MG in Top 10 again

Full March 2022 Top 47 All-brands and Top 272 All-models below.