More Chinese car brands are coming to Australia in 2024 than ever before, but is there space for all of them?
With close to a dozen new Chinese car brands coming to Australia in the next 18 months, most of which will push their electric cars to the fore, the question of long-term sustainability arises.
Looking at the Australian electric vehicle (EV) market, 50,219 sales were reported for the first six months of 2024, representing just 7.9 per cent of the overall market.
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However, Tesla currently accounts for nearly half those numbers – 23,116 to be exact – as the Model Y (12,516) and Model 3 (10,600) represent the two most popular electric cars in the country.
With average EV sales per month tracking at about 8370 units this year – and being conservative with Tesla’s share (let’s say 40 per cent) – that leaves about 5000 monthly units to be fought over by the remaining brands and their respective models.
Outside of Tesla, BYD is the next biggest electric car player in Australia, with the Seal (4092) and Atto 3 (3726) the third and fourth best-selling EVs so far in 2024 respectively.
The BYD Dolphin has also started to gain traction with 1248 registrations to the end of June.
The MG 4 is also posting respectable numbers with 2771 customers this year, while MG still fields the ZS EV (640) as a high-riding, tailpipe emissions-free alternative.
Polestar is also the only other all-electric car brand outside of Tesla, and while its Polestar 2 model is down on sales this year to 264 units, the brand is gearing up to launch its Polestar 3 and Polestar 4 later this year.
And that’s not to mention the all-electric models from established brands like BMW, Kia, Hyundai, Volvo, Toyota, GWM, Mercedes-Benz, Audi, Porsche, Ford, Subaru, Nissan, Renault, Fiat, Lexus, LDV, Mini, Jaguar, and Genesis all competing for a slice of the EV pie.
So where does this leave Zeekr (pictured, above), Smart, Xpeng, Leapmotor, Skywell, and Aion who all have ambitions to make a splash in the electric car space?
Price is going to be a big deciding factor in some of these brands’ success, much like it has been for the likes of the MG 4, GWM Ora, and even Tesla Model 3, but that doesn’t mean they have to be cheap.
In fact, the Xpeng G6 is targeting a sub-$60,000 price tag, which would put it right up against the Tesla Model Y SUV as the brand hopes to steal sales away from the most popular EV in the country.
Likewise, the Skywell ET5 SUV (above) is also expected to come in around the $50,000 drive-away mark to undercut key rivals in the space, while Smart’s new range of vehicles will kick off from $54,900 before on-road costs.
Clearly, the brands are aiming to cut Tesla’s lunch with their model positioning as the Model 3 starts from $54,900, while the Model Y can be had from as little as $55,900.
However, not all the new brands are being pitched in this price bracket, with Leapmotor – part of the global Stellantis umbrella that also includes Jeep, Peugeot, and Ram – expected to be a budget EV alternative.
For reference, the most affordable EV in Australia is the GWM Ora Standard Rage at $35,990 drive-away, but the Leapmotor T03 (above) could very well undercut that given its circa-$10,000 price tag in its home market of China.
While these new brands could find incremental growth in the Australian EV market, the rhetoric is electric car sales are cooling as early adopters have already made purchases and prices continue to fall as technology matures.
The looming question remains though, is the Australian EV market big enough to support all these brands and models?
Maybe.
Or maybe a better way to frame it is: ‘How long can these new Chinese car brands last selling only a handful of EV models a month?’
The post Opinion: Can Australia’s EV market support the influx of Chinese car brands? appeared first on Drive.
