The Tesla Model 3 electric car tops the UK sales charts

For the fourth time in 15 months, the Tesla Model 3 is the most popular car in the UK, outperforming mainstream vehicles like the VW Golf and Ford Fiesta.

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US electric car specialist Tesla has topped the UK sales charts for the fourth time in 15 months.

The Tesla Model 3 was awarded a comfortable lead in the UK in June 2021. Tesla reported 5468 copies of the Model 3 sold compared to 4629 copies of the runner-up Volkswagen Golf.

It was the second time in seven months that the Tesla Model 3 topped the monthly new car sales charts in the UK, with the previous victory coming in December 2020.

However, Tesla’s best-ever UK custom sales performance was recorded in March 2021 when 6,585 Model 3s were reported sold.

Although March 2021 was a monthly sales record for the Tesla Model 3 in the UK, it was only enough to secure fourth place behind the Vauxhall Corsa, Ford Fiesta and the Mercedes A-Class.

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Historical data shows that the Tesla Model 3 sporadically leads the UK market, has monthly delivery schedules pending and mainstream rivals to challenge even more regularly.

When there is an influx of shipments, Tesla Model 3 approvals will peak.

However, the Tesla Model 3 is not in the top 10 new car sales in the UK when the balance sheet for the first half of 2021 is summed up.

Tesla topped the UK monthly sales charts for the first time in April 2020, with only 658 Model 3s reported as sold.

At the time, the UK was in COVID-19 lockdown and the Tesla Model 3 outperformed all competitors for two months in a row: April and May 2020.

Tesla doesn’t typically report sales in Australia, but data unearthed earlier this year from Drive’s sister website, CarAdvice, showed that Tesla sold 3,430 electric cars in Australia in 2020, up 16.3 percent from 2,950 Tesla cars registered in 2019. Data from CarAdvice also shows that 1005 Tesla cars were registered in 2018.

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Demand for Tesla cars continues to rise in Australia, with a record delivery arriving last month.

It was estimated that the shipment included approximately 1,500 copies of the Chinese-built Model 3 sedans.

While Tesla doesn’t publish sales data in Australia, the company announced earlier this week that it had built 200,000 vehicles worldwide in a quarter (April to June 2021) for the first time.

Electric car sales in Australia reached a record level in the first half of 2021, according to figures released this week by the Federal Chamber of the Automotive Industry.

The data shows that in the six months from January to June 2021, 2,200 all-electric cars were sold, an increase of 187 percent.

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Drive Car of the Year, Tesla Model 3 finalist for Best Electric Vehicle 2021, seen from behind.

This compares with 36,600 hybrid cars sold (plus 57 percent) and 1,400 plug-in hybrid cars (plus 90 percent) in the same period.

The number of electric car sales in Australia would be higher if Tesla results were taken into account.

However, Tesla’s sales performance in Australia is not reflected in the data collected by the Federal Chamber of the Automotive Industry because the company does not disclose it.

Joshua Dowling has been an auto journalist for more than 20 years, spending most of his time working for The Sydney Morning Herald (as a car editor and one of the first members of the Drive team) and then for News Corp Australia. He has been with CarAdvice since the end of 2018 and is a World Car of the Year juror. Joshua reports on auto news, car reviews, and benchmark tests – and has a keen interest in all aspects of the auto industry, including price movements, sales data, and consumer protection. He evaluates more than 150 cars a year to keep up to date with new models. While at News Corp Australia, he covered the 2016 and 2017 plant closings of the Ford, Toyota and Holden plants – and the debate that led to those decisions, including interviews with global executives in Detroit. Dowling also broke news in early 2020 that Holden was leaving Australia for good, ahead of other mainstream and automotive media. Dowling is passionate about affordable cars and commercial vehicles, and especially crew cabs. He believes that electric cars will eventually become a part of our car life – once the cost and range problems are resolved.

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