The latest Australian new car sales figures reveal a new leader in the electric vehicle sales race, relegating Tesla to second place.
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The BYD Sealion 7 has beaten the Tesla Model Y to the top spot on the EV chart of Australia’s new car sales board.
In fact, for the month of July, Tesla’s combined Model 3 sedan and Model Y SUV sales only added up to 917 units.
Combined sales year to date still have the Model Y in the lead by a significant margin, however, with 10,986 Model Y sales to the end of July, against 5183 Sealion 7 sales.
BYD’s launch for the Sealion 7 took place in February 2025, meaning the model misses out on a complete sales history for the year.
Tesla’s tally for 2025 so far is down by 20.8 per cent compared to 2024.
The Sealion 7’s sales tally also makes it BYD’s most popular model for July, ahead of the plug-in hybrid Shark 6 ute (1233) and Sealion 6 SUV (1123).
Compared to June’s figures, Sealion 7 figures have slipped slightly, with 1795 sales recorded in the previous month, compared to Tesla’s massive decline from the 3457 deliveries recorded in June.
Tesla has also seen sales for July drop compared to 2024 when 1353 Model Ys were delivered, despite the introduction of an updated Model Y range in May 2025.
Tesla’s changeover to the updated Model Y saw sales slow in the lead-up to the updated version, with strong sales in May and June as a result.
Tesla also uses a batch-shipping model, rather than a constant stream of vehicles into the country, with the dip in July sales lining up with three-month intervals that saw January and April post lower figures than other months.
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Kez Casey migrated from behind spare parts counters to writing about cars over ten years ago. Raised by a family of automotive workers, Kez grew up in workshops and panel shops before making the switch to reviews and road tests for The Motor Report, Drive and CarAdvice.
