The Tesla Model Y electric car was the 10th biggest selling brand of any vehicle in Australia in November in a market where buyers are continuing to shrug off sharp rises in interest rates and cost-of-living pressures.
New vehicle sales were up 17.9 per cent to 95,080 in November compared with a year ago when the bigger cities of Sydney and Melbourne had just emerged from COVID-19 restrictions.
Figures from the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries showed the global supply chain logjams which have caused wait times for buyers of up to a year are starting to partially ease.
FCAI chief executive Tony Weber said the new vehicle market was continuing to recover from the supply constraints triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic, although he acknowledged there were still buyer frustrations at lengthy delays for certain models.
The Tesla Model Y was the No.10 selling vehicle in Australia in November of any type. But the obsession with utes still means the Toyota Hi-Lux and the Ford Range rank No.1 and No.2. Rhett Wyman
“The automotive sector is continuing to recover from pandemic related shutdowns, aglobal shortage of microprocessors and the general supply chain uncertainty weexperienced over the last two years,” he said.
UBS analyst Tim Piper said in a note last week that industry demand was running about 15 per cent ahead of supply.
The love affair with utes continues in Australia, with the Toyota Hi-Lux the No.1 selling vehicle with 5440 sold, followed by arch-rival, the Ford Ranger, with 5073.
The Toyota Corolla was third with 3732, and the MG ZS at No.4 with 3051. The Chinese-made MG brand has been pushing hard with its electric vehicle version of the MG ZS, but there is also a traditional combustion engine model on the market.
The Tesla Model Y electric car notched 1805 sales in November to be the No.10 player. Tesla’s total sales in November were 2196, making it the No.12 brand overall in a market where Toyota is a clear No.1 with 21.1 per cent market share.
The Tesla brand suffered a hit in late November when authorities issued a recall notice for almost 16,000 Tesla Model 3 and Model Y vehicles in Australia sold in 2022. The recall notice related to a software error which affected the tail lights which “may not illuminate as intended”, the notice from the Federal Department of Infrastructure and Transport stated.
The Tesla Model Y electric car in September jumped to be third-best-selling vehicle of any type in Australia when a big delivery of vehicles arrived.
Across the entire market in November, fully battery operated electric vehicles represented 4.7 per cent of total sales. When hybrid vehicles and plug-in hybrids were included, that equated to 14.1 per cent for vehicles that don’t come with traditional internal combustion engines.
The FCAI figures showed that Western Australia generated the strongest increase in sales in November, up by 36.5 per cent to 9668 vehicles. Queensland sales climbed by 28.9 per cent to 20,621. Victoria produced a 19.1 per cent rise in sales to 25,534, South Australia was up 12.3 per cent to 5673 and New South Wales was 7.5 per cent higher to 29,545.
UBS analyst Mr Piper said on November 30 that ASX-listed car dealership company Autosports Group estimated that across the industry, current new car demand remained about 15 per cent above the rate of deliveries. He said car manufacturers “generally are pointing to increased supply” in the June half.
Mr Piper has a “buy” rating on Autosports, which operates car dealerships with more of a skew toward prestige brands such as BMW and Audi, and a 12-month price target of $3.10 on the stock. Autosports shares are trading at around $1.98. It is the smallest of the ASX-listed car dealership groups, behind Eagers Automotive, where Rich Lister Nick Politis is the major shareholder with 27.4 per cent, and Peter Warren Automotive, which listed in 2021 after raising $260 million in a public float.
Mr Piper said he was forecasting a return to more normalised conditions in the vehicle industry across 2023-24 and 2024-25, with the high profit margins which car dealers had been making with supply limited, likely to eventually return to more normal levels.
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