The Tesla fightback begins! Model Y deliveries underway as EV leader faces fierce challenges from BYD, Kia and MG

May 9, 2025May 8, 2025 Toby Hagon 211 Views 0 Comments ev sales, Juniper, model y, Tesla

The heavily updated 2025 Tesla Model Y starts getting delivered to customers this week, marking a turning point for the EV auto brand after months of soft sales.

A shipment carrying 3500 new Teslas – most of them the updated Juniper Model Y – landed in New South Wales last week, providing it with the firepower it desperately needs to revitalise its sales and take on newcomers in the mid-sized electric SUV segment.

The shipment creates a new challenge for Tesla, which has seen sales drop 59 per cent in the first four months of 2025 compared with the same time in 2024.

“We’re going to be very, very busy,” said Thom Drew, Tesla Australia country director. “There’s 3500 (vehicles) on this current vessel that’s arrived and there’s thousands more to come.”

The vehicles arriving now are expected to underpin a strong month of sales for the brand as it looks to regain its place at the top of the EV sales charts after dropping to number four behind BYD, Kia and MG in April 2025.

2025 Tesla Model Y Rear-Wheel Drive: deliveries have now begun.

However, overall in 2025, Tesla remains the number one EV brand in Australia, despite its slump.

Intensifying electric car competition and brand perception issues linked to CEO Elon Musk’s political profile in the US have created unprecedented debate around the brand.

Newcomers including the BYD Sealion 7, Kia EV5 and Geely EX5 have posted respectable numbers in recent months.

But Drew is optimistic and says the company will be busy dispactching thousands of orders.

“The vast majority of those vehicles on that vessel are sold.”

If all the vehicles from the latest shipment are delivered this month, Tesla could approach its May 2024 total of 3567 sales – a welcome lift for a brand trying to regain momentum in the EV market.

Deliveries in Melbourne are due to commence within days, with other states to follow shortly after. But coordinating distribution on that scale is no easy feat.

“It’ll certainly a hard slog getting through the volume we want to achieve,” said Drew. He noted Tesla’s tendency to peak at the end of each quarter, with the company’s all-time monthly sales record in Australia still held by June 2023, when 7018 vehicles were delivered.

Looking ahead, Tesla’s real test will be maintaining volume and the top sales spot as competition among electric vehicle brands grows fiercer.

“The market has evolved and it is a more challenging task to convince the early majority to move to EV,” said Drew. “There’s a lot of competition in the market trying to do the same thing – I think that’s a positive. I think we’ve all got our work cut out for us to get people not buying into hybrids and buying a transitional product for now.”

The Model Y remains Tesla’s centrepiece, dominating Australia’s electric vehicle sales charts since 2021. It also claimed the title of the world’s best-selling vehicle in both 2023 and 2024.

Meanwhile, the Model 3 sedan continues to perform strongly, though it now faces fresh competition from the latest generation Toyota Camry that hit the market last year.

While the Model 3 topped the passenger car rankings in 2024, the Camry’s strong April performance has nudged it slightly ahead in 2025’s year-to-date race among mid-sized sedans.

The Tesla has one big advantage: it can benefit from the federal fringe benefits tax (FBT) exemption on electric vehicles, a key driver for those on a salary who take out a novated lease to pay for the car out of pre-tax income.

Drew confirmed that “about 60 per cent of Teslas sold are financed under a novated lease that facilitates the FBT tax break.”