Tesla reaches 100,000 vehicle-sales milestone in Australia

Tesla says it has reached 100,000 sales of its electric cars in Australia, a decade after launching its first ‘mainstream’ vehicle.

A family (pictured made and below) from Mulgrave, Victoria, purchased the milestone car – a white base Model Y RWD SUV that’s priced from $65,400.

The US tech company imported about 20 units of its first ever car, the $200,000-plus Lotus-based Roadster from 2011, though its local presence started officially with the introduction of the Model S large executive sedan in late 2024.

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This was joined by the related Model X large SUV in 0216, before Tesla sales started to take off with the 2019 introduction of the significantly cheaper Model 3 midsized sedan that was priced below $60,000.

The Model S and Model X, which were both priced well above $100,000, were discontinued in 2020 though were due to be replaced by facelifted versions in 2023 before Tesla announced it was axing right-hand-drive production.

Local Tesla tracker Veda Prime reported the S and X accounted for fewer than 4300 units (2569 and 1724 sales, respectively).

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Tesla only joined official sales reporting via industry VFACTS data from Q1 2022, helping to demonstrate how registrations have surged since the Model 3’s SUV twin, the Model Y, joined it in 2022.

Two-thirds of Tesla’s 100,000 total sales are accounted for by the China-sourced Model 3 and Model Y.

After reporting 19,594 new-car registrations in 2022, Tesla achieved 46,116 in 2023 to reset its local record.

The Model Y was the third most popular vehicle in Australia, behind only the Ford Ranger and Toyota HiLux utes.

Toyota reached 100,000 petrol-electric hybrid sales in 2019 – 18 years after the debut of the Prius.