Tesla has reported another annual drop in Australian sales – despite launching a heavily-updated Model Y – but it is expected to remain the country's top seller of battery-electric vehicles.
Electric Cars
Tesla annual sales in Australia have declined for the second consecutive year – as the brand's largest year-on-year slump on record – despite a mid-year boost from the updated Model Y SUV.
However, unlike its global tally, Tesla is expected to remain ahead of growing Chinese rival BYD in local electric-car sales, which is expected to report approximately 23,000 battery-electric deliveries in Australia for calendar-year 2025.
Data published by the Electric Vehicle Council (EVC) overnight reports 28,856 new Tesla vehicles as sold in Australia last year, down 24.8 per cent on the 38,347 reported in 2024, itself a 17 per cent year-on-year slump.
It is also down on the 46,120 reported for 2023 – the US car giant's best-ever result in Australia – but up from 19,594 in 2022.
In contrast, BYD has overtaken Tesla to become the world's top seller of electric cars globally – on 2.26 million sales, ahead of 1.64 million – though most of the Chinese giant's customers are in its home market.
The sales decline for Tesla is despite the arrival of a heavily-updated Model Y mid-size family SUV, which clocked up 22,239 deliveries in 2025 – up 4.6 per cent on the year prior.
In fact, Model Y deliveries since May 2025 – when the updated model arrived in showrooms – are up 42 per cent, from 13,252 to 18,845.
What pulled the US car giant down was a significant 61 per cent drop in sales of the Model 3 sedan, which reported 6617 deliveries – down from 17,094 a year prior.
It is the Model 3's worst result since 2020, when 3430 registrations were reported for the entire Tesla brand, including small volumes of the larger, now-discontinued Model S and Model X.
Sales of its nearest BYD Seal rival have also slumped in 2025 – down 43.6 per cent to the end of November – while the nation's top-selling sedan, the Toyota Camry, is down 38 per cent, despite a new model arriving late in 2024.
For the month of December, Tesla sales were down 28.1 per cent to 2585 vehicles, due to a larger decrease in Model 3 sales (587, down 66.1 per cent) despite a greater uptick in Model Y deliveries (1998, up 7.4 per cent) compared to the annual average.
Around the globe, Tesla has faced tough competition from BYD and other Chinese brands, which offer a broader range of electric vehicles at different price points.
In other markets, Tesla has introduced more affordable Standard versions of the Model 3 and Model Y, but these have not been launched locally – though its existing cars are price-competitive with their BYD, XPeng, and Zeekr rivals.
Elon Musk's controversial political activities have also been identified by analysts as a factor in Tesla's global sales slump.
Electric Cars Guide
Alex Misoyannis has been writing about cars since 2017, when he started his own website, Redline. He contributed for Drive in 2018, before joining CarAdvice in 2019, becoming a regular contributing journalist within the news team in 2020. Cars have played a central role throughout Alex’s life, from flicking through car magazines at a young age, to growing up around performance vehicles in a car-loving family. Highly Commended - Young Writer of the Year 2024 (Under 30) Rising Star Journalist, 2024 Winner Scoop of The Year - 2024 Winner
