BYD sold 5,001 vehicles in Australia in January, a staggering 641% increase year-over-year, while Tesla managed just 501, leaving the American automaker in 24th place as Chinese brands continue their takeover of the Australian EV market.
BYD’s Australian surge continues
According to data from the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries, BYD finished January as Australia’s sixth best-selling brand overall, outselling Tesla by a factor of 10. Tesla, meanwhile, dropped to 24th place with just 501 sales, down 32% from January 2025.
The numbers reflect a dramatic shift in Australia’s EV landscape. Just last year, we reported how BYD was closing in on Tesla’s lead in Australia, with the gap narrowing through 2025. By May, BYD had taken control of the Australian EV market with the Sealion 7 becoming the country’s best-selling EV.
Now the dominance is clear. BYD’s January haul was led by the Sealion 7 (1,171 sales) and Atto 2 (562 sales), neither of which existed in the Australian market a year ago. The company’s aggressive pricing strategy, including launching the first sub-$30,000 EV in Australia with the Dolphin, is paying dividends.
Tesla’s weak January is partly explained by stock constraints following a solid December, similar to patterns we’ve seen in other markets. But even accounting for monthly fluctuations, it is still down more than 30% over the same period last year. The trend is unmistakable.
Four Chinese brands now sit in Australia’s top 10: BYD (6th), GWM (7th), Chery (9th), and MG (10th). Together, Chinese-made vehicles added 8,014 sales compared to January 2025, more than offsetting declines from established brands like Toyota.
Overall, EVs hit 7,409 sales in January, up 93.3% year-over-year, now accounting for 8.4% of Australia’s new car market. And that growth is coming almost entirely from brands that aren’t Tesla.
This follows BYD’s global victory over Tesla in 2025, when the Chinese automaker outsold Tesla in pure battery-electric vehicles for the first time on an annual basis.
Electrek’s Take
Top comment by Damon Ekstrom
With Tesla pivoting away from cars, these kind of numbers will only get more prevalent as time goes on. Tesla's sales are already down YOY in multiple markets, not least of which includes America, their home base. But Elon thinks that full autonomy (which Tesla doesn't offer), and robots (which they don't have), will save them. Elon is choosing to go all in on something that literally doesn't exist for Tesla at the moment.
Simply put, Tesla is no longer a competitor when it comes to EVs. When you only have two vehicles to offer, you're no longer a part of the competition. You're instead a company with a store closing sign in the window.
Australia has become a case study in what happens when Tesla faces real competition from China without a home-field advantage.
BYD’s strategy is working: flood the market with competitively priced vehicles across every segment, from the sub-$30k Dolphin to the Model Y-fighting Sealion 7. Meanwhile, Tesla’s Australian lineup remains limited to Model 3 and Model Y, with no Cybertruck, no affordable compact, and prices that don’t undercut Chinese rivals.
The 10-to-1 sales gap in January is extreme, Tesla will likely recover somewhat as stock normalizes, but the broader trend is clear. In markets where Chinese EVs compete freely, Tesla’s dominance is evaporating. Australia has no tariffs on Chinese EVs, unlike the US and EU, making it a preview of what open competition looks like.
Tesla still has the Supercharger network and brand recognition going for it, but in a price-sensitive market like Australia, BYD’s value proposition is winning.
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