Tesla Model 3 outsells total of all other new electric cars in New Zealand

The Driven

The Tesla Model 3 has outsold the combined total of all other new pure electric cars in New Zealand in the third quarter, helping tip the balance in the New Zealand car market towards new EVs over used EVs for the first time in years.

Data release by the New Zealand government on Thursday provides fascinating insight into the EV market because, unlike Australia, it has had more EV models available for longer, and keeps proper track of the numbers sold, right down to individual suburbs.

The NZ transport department notes that 419 Tesla Model 3s were sold in the September quarter (the first ones only arrived half way through the month of August), taking a 54 per cent share of the new EV market in the country.

The other new pure EV models could muster only 358 sales between them for the September quarter, led by the Hyundai Kona (105), and the newly arrived Audi e-Tron (64). The new Nissan Leaf followed with 52, then the Kia Niro (21) and the Jaguar I-Pace (20).

The Model 3 has now outsold both the cumulative totals of its stablemates, the Tesla Model S (329 since 2015) and the Tesla Model X (333 since 2017) in just six weeks.

And it sits just behind the cumulative totals of the Hyundai Kona (429 since the middle of last year) and the Hyundai Ioniq (545 since late 2016).

Australian EV buyers may be bristling with envy. New Zealand has had some models available – such as the Ioniq and Kona – for far longer than in Australia, and the Audi e-Tron and the VW E-Golf has yet to make an appearance here. New pure electrics now account for four per cent of the sales market.

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