Australia’s best-selling electric cars of 2021 – that aren’t Teslas

The Tesla Model 3 might be Australia’s best-selling electric vehicle – but it’s not the only EV vying for its slice of the sales pie. Here’s how every other electric car sold in 2021.

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Data released by the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) last week reveals sales of electric vehicles (EVs) continued to break records in Australia in 2021, with 5149 all-electric cars reaching local driveways.

While that figure only accounts for 0.5 per cent of all new cars sold in Australia last year, it’s up 191.1 per cent on the 1769 electric cars reported as sold in 2020 – with the EV market’s 0.7 per cent market share in December 2021 showing sales are on the up.

However, it’s well documented that the FCAI’s count does not include US electric vehicle leader Tesla, which does not disclose its Australian sales figures publicly – despite selling as many as 10,000 cars in Australia, according to some estimates.

While the Tesla Model 3 is believed to be the clear sales leader, following behind it is a growing array of zero-emissions vehicles from a range of car makers, competing in different segments and price points – as many as 19, up from 10 this time last year. Here’s how they sold.

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Breakdown

Leading the charge for non-Tesla electric cars in 2021 was the MG ZS EV – Australia’s cheapest electric SUV, priced from $44,990 drive-away – with 1388 examples sold over the course of the year (or 80 in December alone). The full-year figure accounts for 7.5 per cent of all MG ZS sales in Australia last year.

Following behind on 531 sales for the year is the Porsche Taycan – launched at the end of February – despite being Australia’s most expensive electric vehicle, with a base price nearly four times that of the first-placed (excluding Tesla) MG.

The Taycan also earned the title of Porsche’s third best-selling model, outselling the 911 (428 sales), 718 Cayman (147), 718 Boxster (109) and Panamera (48) – but no match for the top-selling mid-size Macan (2328) and large Cayenne (837, both wagon and Coupe) SUVs.

Volvo launched its XC40 Recharge Pure Electric small SUV in August – and while only 207 examples were reported as sold last year, the car maker is currently holding a bank of orders “in the high seven hundreds” (and growing), with the entire Model Year 2022 allocation for Australia sold out.

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The Volvo’s delivery count splits the similarly-sized Mercedes-Benz EQA (367 cars since its June launch) and Lexus UX300e (43 since its November launch).

The hotly-anticipated Hyundai Ioniq 5 topped the non-Tesla EV sales charts in December 2021 alone – likely a result of a large batch of cars arriving in the country, as part of the initial round of orders – while Hyundai’s other electric vehicles, the Kona (505) and Ioniq (338) came third and sixth respectively (when excluding Tesla).

At the bottom of the list sits the BMW iX with 35 sales (though it only went on sale in November/December), Lexus UX300e (43 sales, launched in November), Jaguar I-Pace (with 44 sales in 2021, though on sale since 2018), and the ageing Renault Kangoo ZE (45), which is set to be replaced by an all-new model by the end of this year.

Electric car fans may notice the omission of new Chinese brand BYD from this list. While it is estimated to have sold approximately 65 cars in Australia in 2021, the company doesn’t report its sales figures for industry VFACTS reports – and its broader Australian roll-out plans are ever changing.

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New electric cars coming in 2022

This year will host the launches of an array of new cars, SUVs and commercial vehicles, from the much-anticipated arrival of the Kia EV6 medium SUV in the coming weeks, to the Tesla Model Y, likely sometime in the first half of 2022.

Chinese brand BYD is also slated to launch the first in a selection of new-generation products – the Yuan Plus small SUV – to be joined by the Ora Good Cat from Chinese compatriot Great Wall Motors (GWM), and an updated MG ZS EV.

Australia’s number-one car brand Toyota is set to introduce its first mass-produced electric vehicle, the BZ4X, towards the end of the year.

For a full list of every new electric vehicle bound for Australian shores in 2022, click here to read Drive’s full story.

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