Battery electric vehicles made up 15 per cent of the new car sales market in New Zealand in June, with monthly sales doubling from the 2023 average to 2,599 units.
The leader is the Tesla Model Y, which had a huge month of 765 units, enabling it to overtake the BYD Atto 3 and become the best selling electric passenger car in New Zealand in the year to date with a total of 1,957.
The Atto 3, which had 440 sales in June, slipped into second place on the year to date with a total of 1,836 sales for the year. The next best selling EV in New Zealand in 2023 is the MG ZS, which had sales of 260 in June, for a year to date total of 1,150.
The best-selling electric sedan in June was the Tesla Model 3, with 200 sales and a year to date total of 611, which puts it at number 4 in the overall EV sales for 2023, just ahead of the Kia EV6 with 572.
Of interest is the performance of several new electric models not yet available in Australia, including the GWM Ora (44 sales in June), the Fiat 500e (22), the Peugeot -2008 (17), the Opel Mokka (19), the VW ID.5 (67) and the Ford Mustang Mach-e (98).
Giles Parkinson is founder and editor of The Driven, and also edits and founded the Renew Economy and One Step Off The Grid web sites. He has been a journalist for nearly 40 years, is a former business and deputy editor of the Australian Financial Review, and owns a Tesla Model 3.