VFACTS: BYD sales in Australia finally revealed

The first batch of sales data for recently-arrived Chinese brand BYD places it as Australia’s second best-selling electric-vehicle manufacturer.

Newly-launched Chinese car maker BYD has accounted for one in five electric vehicles sold in its first three months of deliveries, second only to Tesla, its first batch of sales data has revealed.

VFACTS industry sales data released today by the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) lists 845 BYD electric vehicles as sold in its first three months of deliveries.

This is believed to place BYD – which offers one model, the Atto 3 small SUV – as Australia’s second-best selling electric-car brand, ahead of the likes of MG, Hyundai and Polestar, and behind only Tesla.

The BYD Atto 3 is believed to place third or fourth on the leaderboard for the best-selling electric-car models, behind the Tesla Model Y (1805) and Model 3 (391), and the MG ZS EV (exact sales figure unconfirmed, fewer than 700 estimated).

The sales result is despite a stop-delivery notice in force for three weeks from October 21 to November 11, as BYD’s local distributor EVDirect worked through concerns with federal regulators over the Atto 3’s compliance with Australian motor vehicle laws.

The notice was issued after the child-seat top tether point for the centre rear seat was found to be hidden below the carpet, breaching compliance rules for five-seat passenger cars including the Atto 3, which require these tether points to be accessible without the use of tools.

Compliance concerns were also raised with the ISOFIX child-seat mounting points on the front passenger seats, as it is illegal for child-seat restraints to be fitted in the front seat of passenger cars in Australia. The distributor says these ISOFIX points have been “disengaged”.

BYD and its local distributor EVDirect claimed it planned to provide its sales data for the FCAI’s monthly VFACTS sales reports for September and October, but it missed both deadlines.

The figure of 845 BYD sales over the first three months of deliveries is only marginally higher than registration data sourced by Drive last month for the first two months on sale, which listed approximately 890 BYD Atto 3s added to the local vehicle fleet.

This is believed to be due to the stop-delivery notice, which when issued on October 21 left fleets of just-registered BYD Atto 3 vehicles – many days or hours away from customer delivery – waiting in holding yards while the compliance concerns were cleared.

This means the number of BYD Atto 3s delivered to customers in September and October was substantially lower than the number registered over the same period.

The latest VFACTS sales report does not break down monthly data for BYD – instead grouping all three months of deliveries – however Drive understands as many as BYD Atto 3s registered before October 31 were not delivered before the stop-delivery notice was issued.

With the three months of BYD deliveries clumped together, VFACTS data lists 4457 electric vehicles as sold (referring to deliveries, not orders placed) in November, up 685 per cent on the same month last year.

With Tesla’s sales data excluded – as it did not report sales to VFACTS this time last year – the growth percentage drops to 298 per cent.

Tesla remained atop the electric-car sales charts last month, reporting 2196 vehicles – or half of all electric-car deliveries – across 391 Model 3 sedans and 1805 Model Y SUVs.

This represents a ramp-up in deliveries, after only 1109 Tesla vehicles were reported as sold in October – down from its record result of 5969 in September, and 3397 in August.

November sales data for the full list of electric vehicles is yet to be confirmed, however highlights known so far include 240 Polestar 2 sedans and 61 BMW iX SUVs.

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