Tesla Y's surge to be NZ's most popular new car

Business / news

Kiwi buyers turn their backs on internal combustion engines, increasingly favouring pure electric vehicles. But they are not turning their backs on SUVs

10th Dec 22, 11:18am by David Chaston

Tesla Model Y

Electric car sales are mainstream now, well passed their tipping point to market acceptance.

There were 11,175 new passenger cars sold in November and 2,488 of them were pure electric, 22% market share.

In addition, there were 542 plug-in hybrid sales in November, plus another 1,704 petrol hybrids.

All up that was 4,734 passenger cars that are "new energy vehicles" (NEVs) of some sort, a massive 42% share of all new cars sold. The 50% share is coming quickly, and a quick extrapolation of the trend suggests that by the end of 2023 that share could easily rise to close to 60%. This sector has momentum.

And the fastest growing segment is turning into the pure electric category.

The pace of sales for pure electrics (EVs) more than doubled in the past six months from the first six months of 2022.

Dominating EV sales have been the sales of Teslas. This is not new. Since they started shipping to New Zealand, they have arrived in inconsistent shiploads. The 2021 shipments featured Tesla Model 3s, a sedan version. But since August 2022 when they started shipping Tesla Model Y, the SUV version, Kiwi preferences for that have supercharged sales. 1502 were sold in September, and 1099 were sold in November, making the Model Y easily the most popular of passenger vehicles being sold. There were 3,358 of them sold in just the past four months.

The lack of NEV or electric options is handicapping the used import trade. The November used import sales were -37% below year ago levels, and the fast fall-away has now tipped the 12 month rolling average negative, -6% in 2022 compared to 2021.

What is not suffering is the preference for SUVs. Aided by those big Tesla Model Y shipments, SUVs still command 76% market dominance.

New vehicles sold

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Source: NZTA

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72 Comments

by Brock Landers | 10th Dec 22, 12:04pm 1670627076

Model Y is good.

Hopefully those infected with Musk derangement syndrome boycott them so they are cheaper for the rest of us.

by Pa1nter | 10th Dec 22, 12:27pm 1670628423

First poor Trumpy now Elon, these cluster B types need more sycophants to help prop them up.

The maths on these has a ways to go.

by KH | 10th Dec 22, 1:40pm 1670632820

Trump now Musk. It seems the USA needs a boogyman. Weirdly obsessed on one thing. They always have one, following the last one.

by Nzdan | 10th Dec 22, 4:34pm 1670643241

"mUsK iS jUsT aNoThEr RiCh PrIcK" - small minded and unimaginative people 2022.

(•_•)

<) )╯

/ \

by blobbles | 10th Dec 22, 8:07pm 1670656039

Yeah I don't understand the hate for Musk.

He is literally trying to change the world in quite significant ways. You can argue he is doing a poor job at some, but his electric car company and space rocket company look like they are going to be revolutionary, leaders of the pack. He bought twitter and was a bit of a douchebag, but I have worked in private businesses where the owner is also a douche, it happens.

by JimboJones | 11th Dec 22, 9:41am 1670704903

I doubt many people choose their new car based on how much they like the CEO. Tesla are way ahead at the moment, why the other manufacturers took so long to realise that people wanted electric cars is beyond me.

by solardb | 11th Dec 22, 9:46am 1670705202

Byd might give them a shakeup.

by Ocelot | 12th Dec 22, 1:20pm 1670804410

I've driven the BYD Atto3 from town to Pakuranga recently. It was nice, quick enough, good range. Lots of weird stuff going on with violins playing when you reverse, and those crazy internal door handles. Far cheaper than Teslas, but China doesn't have the best rep when it comes to reliability. We'll have to see how it plays out. Because the Teslas are good for many hundreds of thousands of km.

by rastus1 | 11th Dec 22, 1:17pm 1670717867

In what way are they ahead? Kia ev6 for example. Shoot.....

by Pa1nter | 11th Dec 22, 2:44pm 1670723084

Tesla is the iPhone of electric cars. Not the first, maybe not even necessarily the best, but the first that managed to give a decent everyday experience.

All of their competitors are handicapped by having to support legacy ICE hardware, but there are now plenty of options internationally. The Hyundai Nvision 74 needs to be made.

I wouldn't be surprised if Toyota bought Tesla though.

by Pragmatist | 11th Dec 22, 3:17pm 1670725020

Teslas market cap is roughly 3x that of Toyota. Seems unlikely.

by Pa1nter | 11th Dec 22, 3:37pm 1670726265

Check out the rate shares have dropped for each in the last 12 months.

Tesla's pretty profitable at the moment, but they've had a market mostly to themselves for nearly a decade.

Aside from their charging infrastructure they soon won't have much in the way of competitive advantage. The whole electric car sector has been rife with over-valued startups but now most traditional manufacturers are coming on stream so eventually values will go from overpriced disruptor to just another car company.

The exception seems to be the Japanese. For the most part their electric offerings are design exercises or pretty mediocre. They've been waiting for green hydro and that might be the next betamax. So Toyota might end up having to go shopping to try and catch up.

by PineTreez | 11th Dec 22, 3:39pm 1670726391

Toyota have been in la-la land with their insistence on hydrogen powered vehicles. Either they know some key bit of science that nobody else does, or they're barking up a wrong tree. Meantime the rest of the industry has been getting on with battery tech and contracts to source what they need, while Toyota sits there getting nowhere.

by Pa1nter | 11th Dec 22, 3:47pm 1670726822

Japan is trying to develop nuclear derived hydrogen generation. If successful that would give them a significant market position for commercial and industrial applications.

by murray86 | 12th Dec 22, 8:27am 1670786832

Friend of mine who has a pretty good technical background is on his second EV, a Kia BEV and loves it. He says the Tesla (model 3) is crap by comparison.

I personally cannot say as no experience.

by solardb | 10th Dec 22, 12:59pm 1670630374

Surprised plug in hybrids are not more popular , seems the ideal setup.

by Pa1nter | 10th Dec 22, 1:27pm 1670632034

Definitely makes more sense if you have longer to travel.

But the payoff is around a decade, and the sort of people buying new cars don't own them for that long.

by chebbo | 10th Dec 22, 3:11pm 1670638274

Because they don't last that long.

by PineTreez | 11th Dec 22, 3:44pm 1670726650

Yep, this. The problem with a hybrid is it has a pissy little battery, so the battery is forced into much deeper cycles, and more frequent cycling if doing any decent miles... exactly the stuff that kills a battery. Great concept for a town car (in which case the combustion side of it is unnecessary), but unsuited to intercity travel with any regularity.

When it comes to batteries it's a case of 'go big or go home' (or should that be 'go big or stay home').

by Pragmatist | 10th Dec 22, 3:50pm 1670640653

Nothing wrong with a pure electric like a Model Y, the travel time for normal travelling is not significantly greater than a petrol or hybrid, unless you are the pee in a bottle drive 6hours non-stop type. Akl-Palmy is about the same time in a tesla as an ICE, just a bit less flexibility in routes at this stage due to not enough serious fast chargers (100kW+).

Tesla has just applied to install NZ biggest charging facility in Cambridge, which looks like it will be open to all EV brands. 12 x 250kW chargers.

by KH | 10th Dec 22, 1:39pm 1670632784

Plain hybrids are a catagory sure, but not really electric. They are best seen as an efficient type of ICE vehicle.

by The Black Swan | 10th Dec 22, 2:50pm 1670637036

Got my model Y a month ago.... easily the best car I've ever driven, owned and the tech is incredible, I'm never going back to an ICE. When I took a test drive in early July, the waiting period for just a test drive was out to 4 months and the showroom in Ponsonby was full on a Friday afternoon. The vibe reminded me of when I was in an Apple store in New York 2010.

by chebbo | 10th Dec 22, 3:26pm 1670639195

Tesla certainly has that culty Apple vibe to it. They even had their own Steve Jobs to worship there for a while, until he became public enemy #1.

by Pragmatist | 10th Dec 22, 3:54pm 1670640864

Plenty of Tesla owners think Elon is a bit of a douche, we bought a car, not a lifetime membership to the Elon fanboi club.

by Baywatch | 10th Dec 22, 4:10pm 1670641851

Tipping point is here already which surprised me? Lots of sour grape comments from the dinosaur juicers expected but our petrol imports must be dropping each month. Most of the bus fleet in our neck of the woods is electric also..not missing the fumes and noise.

by Pa1nter | 10th Dec 22, 4:18pm 1670642317

It's just basic economics.

If you really wanted to save the planet you'd never buy a new automobile.

by Pragmatist | 10th Dec 22, 4:34pm 1670643279

>If you really wanted to save the planet you'd never buy a new automobile.

Only if by that you mean never use a privately owned car again and reduce trips, cos I don't think we'd be doing the world any favour if we keep driving old low efficiency mobile rust heaps.

by Pa1nter | 10th Dec 22, 5:00pm 1670644850

I'm not sure what the payoff time is of producing a new vehicle to replace a less efficient one, but my overall point is we can't consume our way out of this.

Electric cars are amazing for moving humans short distances. That should really be done with some sort of autonomous cheap contraption you dial up on demand, rather than some luxury item everyone should buy. Less space for parking needed, less private capital tied up, and overall less resources wasted.

Make stuff that lasts hundreds of years, and own less of it, would probably go much further.

by Pragmatist | 10th Dec 22, 5:57pm 1670648238

Not if we all still want to go to work at 8am and home at 5pm in an individual vehicle it doesn't.

And right now public transport options are complete shit out where I am, so that not going to fly for me.

by Pa1nter | 10th Dec 22, 6:12pm 1670649176

If the vehicle was 25 grand instead of 70, it'd probably be fine.

by Pragmatist | 10th Dec 22, 6:27pm 1670650071

Monetary price is irrelevant, its the resources and energy consumed.

by Pa1nter | 10th Dec 22, 6:59pm 1670651966

I'm sure the average private car is getting used far less than the average Taxi.

Most people don't really need to own a car.

by Pragmatist | 10th Dec 22, 7:09pm 1670652559

Sure, if we switch to public transport en masse, otherwise no dice.

Now we just need the public transport system to be improved 10 fold in Auckland.

by PineTreez | 11th Dec 22, 3:51pm 1670727114

And consider how undesirable public transport is in a pandemic. Sure, it's the greenest option. Not the healthiest or safest option when sharing a carriage with the unwell, the drunks, thugs and the great unwashed.

by Pragmatist | 11th Dec 22, 4:47pm 1670730441

Yep, that’s another reason I’m glad we have our first EV. Doesn’t change the fact that so long as we have 50%? of the population jumping into cars, mostly one person to a car at 8am and 5pm, Painters idea of robo-taxis is dead in the water.

by PineTreez | 11th Dec 22, 4:00pm 1670727624

I think I read recently that the point of equivalent CO2 consumption in the manufacturing and driving of EV vs ICE was around 15,000km. ICE being greener to make, but dirtier to run (yes, even with electricity generated from coal).

So if you can make an EV last longer than 15,000km you've saved resources compared to ICE, and 15,000 is nowhere near the warranty threshold on a Tesla.

Less than one or two years running for a typical family car and it starts to pay dividends for the atmosphere, not to mention the cheaper running costs, meanwhile that ICE car gets more and more costly to fill.

by Fossil Lover | 12th Dec 22, 7:10am 1670782234

This planet is going nowhere. Electric vehicles are just ever more fossil fuel consumption. Wake up, fossil fuels are the answer to a high standard of living. (USA). The combustion engine is here to stay, it's your choice or are we going to be forced into only driving electric by corporate control of government, under disguise of 'Saving the Planet' (Like the vaccine).

by Pragmatist | 12th Dec 22, 8:25am 1670786744

Can you go crawl back under the rock you crawled out from, you contribute nothing of worth, you're not even mildly amusing like some of the other trolls.

by rastus1 | 11th Dec 22, 1:22pm 1670718169

My concern with all this tech is the damage that only a minor collision can bring and of course associated insurance. Just recently I compared windscreen prices with the higher tech model of my current Vehicle. Talking thousands compared to a few hundred. What’s insurance on a Tesla costing you?

by PineTreez | 11th Dec 22, 4:01pm 1670727692

About $1,500, with an excess around the $1k mark.

by rastus1 | 11th Dec 22, 6:36pm 1670736998

That’s not bad, thought it would be much more tbh.

by Clefton Twain | 12th Dec 22, 8:16am 1670786181

With all the driving aids, they crash far less often.

by PineTreez | 11th Dec 22, 3:48pm 1670726912

Ordered mine the day of NZ release. I'd had 2 years to study up about it and assess the tech since it was released in the States. Bought it without ever having sat in or driven a Tesla. Zero regrets so far. It's a sweeeeet car to drive, even in Chill Mode it beats anything I've had prior.

by delboy | 10th Dec 22, 4:22pm 1670642548

The Tesla Y is an amazing car at a good price especially when the clean car rebate is applied.

by tothepoint | 10th Dec 22, 4:34pm 1670643263

Perhaps I should trade my well-proven Hillman Hunter on a new Tesla??

But then again, perhaps I'd regret doing so??

TTP

by solardb | 10th Dec 22, 6:47pm 1670651277

You will probably be surprised how much the Hunter is worth .

by Carlos67 | 10th Dec 22, 5:12pm 1670645562

Sticking with ICE because I like the sound of it and the 6 speed manual, it arrives May 2023 as there is quite a wait for them. All good if you go electric, doesn't bother me. I guess most people buy one thinking its going to save them money but if you don't care about that and like the pure driving experience and like to do all your own maintenance then electric is not for you.

by Pa1nter | 10th Dec 22, 5:19pm 1670645997

If I'm getting into something every day and taking it to heaven and back, its going to be more than an appliance.

by Pragmatist | 10th Dec 22, 6:29pm 1670650194

If you don't like doing maintenance but do it all yourself, then Electric is for you.

by Carlos67 | 10th Dec 22, 7:27pm 1670653673

If your Tesla goes wrong you are screwed, even with my extensive electronics and mechanical repair background I know that they are simply not repairable yourself. The only thing I like with a battery is my electric drill, even then its quickly replaced by my mains powered one if the mains is within range by adding a 25m extension cord. Battery power sucks, its a last resort not your first choice.

by Pragmatist | 10th Dec 22, 8:29pm 1670657390

Why would you think that Carlos? Tesla kindly gives zero cost access to the service manuals & EPC, and basic service mode is built into the car and accessed from the touchscreen to access the DTCs. If you want the service+ mode, you need to pay for the software, but its not a horrendous price, and a laptop and an ethernet cable is all I need, but unless you are doing a motor, battery or main ECU swap you probably won't need those.

And with your goalpost shift from maintenance, to repairs, you are of course trying to avoid the fact that there really is almost no maintenance, Fluid changes every 10years (i'll pay someone to do that, not having a hoist makes it a pain in the ass), and then tyres and occassionally brakes.

One might suspect you are just unleashing your inner luddite, and being scared of change.

by Beanie | 11th Dec 22, 9:45am 1670705119

I suspect his new ice car he is getting will have more electronic components to go wrong than an ev has. And mechanical reliability is variable..just look at the mazda skyactiv engines.

The reliability and repairability he craves has really been missing since the late 90s.

by Carlos67 | 11th Dec 22, 11:15am 1670710541

Yeah sticking with what I know and can repair. Power Electronics is unreliable and so are batteries, its unavoidable its just the way it is. Never even owned a new car so really looking forward to it, I can make a second hand one last 20 years so will probably not need to buy another one. Electric just doesn't do it for me I'm old skool.

by Pragmatist | 11th Dec 22, 12:35pm 1670715303

Certainly not “just the way it is”. Power electronics like any engineered product can be engineered well or poorly. Liquid cooled and sealed in an enclosure removes two of the biggest environmental issues, heat and dust/moisture ingress. Being on battery also removes the issues with power quality.

And at 4000 cycles at 300km+ per cycle the expected battery life is 1.2million kms, but much more likely to die of old age at 15+ years. Neither are a cause for concern for me.

by Carlos67 | 11th Dec 22, 12:49pm 1670716169

Nope any semiconductor handling high current is inherently less reliable than small signal electronics, period. I have been in electronics to component level repair for over 30 years, that's just the way it is. The higher the current the bigger the bang when it goes wrong. The design is never "over spec'd" to the level you think because that costs more money. 10 years is about the upper limit, at that point its either scrapped and recycled or it has already gone up in smoke.

by Pragmatist | 11th Dec 22, 1:43pm 1670719419

Lol, nonsense. I could point you at cabinets full of industrial VSDs that are well older than 10years on sites I've worked at.

Sure when power electronics go bang they make a bigger mess, but thats if and when they go bang. Sometimes VSDs just die, usually from a small signal part failing.

by Carlos67 | 11th Dec 22, 3:49pm 1670726958

Well by chance this just popped up on my phone.

https://www.hotcars.com/real-truth-about-tesla-reliability/

by Pragmatist | 11th Dec 22, 5:40pm 1670733634

American rating American built Teslas. Yep, expect poor ratings.

https://cleantechnica.com/2020/09/09/anti-tesla-talking-point-crushed-b…

They even mention you Carlos (not by name) in the section about concern trolling.

by PineTreez | 11th Dec 22, 4:20pm 1670728848

I forget the element used (galium???), but Tesla has been using semiconductors made from a far more reliable (and more expensive) element than Silicon. Presumably in their inverters. I'm guessing it's still silicon for the in-car electronics, the GPU/MCU, but they don't run the same loads or risk such major heat stress.

Note that Teslas are configured to cool the cabin if it exceeds 40C (this can be overridden by the user, or set at a different threshold), but this is probably partly for the benefit of the electronics within the cabin, not just for when the driver returns to a car that would otherwise be screaming hot.

by Pragmatist | 11th Dec 22, 5:42pm 1670733747

Silicon Carbide power transistors in the inverters.

by Brock Landers | 11th Dec 22, 8:03pm 1670742190

Dunning-Kruger is alive and well.

by JimboJones | 11th Dec 22, 9:45am 1670705120

Your VCR probably needs less maintenance than your Netflix smart TV - not because it’s better, just because you never use it.

by JBA | 11th Dec 22, 5:06pm 1670731563

> save money

> like to do own maintenance

guess that's why I bought a prius.

by dollar_bill | 12th Dec 22, 4:51pm 1670817100

lol - driving experience. When a Tesla production car outperforms the top ICE supercars - you're not going to find too many fanbois for boring old Mercs and Beamers no matter what sound they make.

by JamesM | 10th Dec 22, 10:30pm 1670664612

Tesla is the new Prius.

by JustAParadox | 11th Dec 22, 12:51pm 1670716289

Buying a Tesla is for the "sheeples" - following fad or fashion. There is way more choice out there; equivalent range, and better build quality. And while there may be a brag about being "the most valuable car company out there"...based on share price only.... they are not the most profitable or with largest revenue.

Additionally they were not the first to being mass produced electric cars to the people (in recent times) ... its just that the people nor infrastructure were ready for it to be of mass appeal. Two vital ingredients for something to take off.

Don't underestimate the manufacturer's with decades (and some +100years) of knowledge and heritage. Most of which are ditching ICE this decade. Without their investments and discoveries (which form parts of Tesla's tech ) Tesla in its current form couldn't have existed. Plus new upstarts... particularly out of China and some within the US...mean a plethora of choice; meaning tesla will have to take these profitable and more agile firms, seriously. Are they equipped to do so???

Also... for some of you who arent aware.. fun facts.......1/ Elon was NOT a founder.. he sued the original founders to be recognised as a founder... when he came in as an investor. 2/ one of the original founders is a Kiwi - Ian Wright....who shortly after exiting Tesla.. started wrightspeed.

by Pragmatist | 11th Dec 22, 2:12pm 1670721121

Build quality is fine, it was the USA made cars that were poorly made, we don't get those anymore.

And the infrastructure is one of Teslas big advantages, there are very few decent fast chargers in NZ that aren't tesla superchargers. And now they are mostly more expensive than Tesla chargers too.

As for the rest of your diatribe, meh. You can argue politics and personalities all you want, I didn't buy the car for those reasons, when I ordered there were no other good choices. Leaf and a couple of other gutless low range commuter boxes, some stupidly expensive euro luxury barges like the e-tron.

You're right that Tesla isn't at the leading edge in some areas, but they do have the experience in manufacturing pure EVs at scale that almost no one can compete with, except maybe the Chinese.

by treadlightly | 11th Dec 22, 3:37pm 1670726221

I prefer my cars to have a proper instrument cluster and manual switches rather than a ridiculous tv sized display panel. How many accidents are they going to cause, we can't use a mobile phone while driving but we can have a stupid display panel glaring at us. Only an American could come up with something like that.

by Pragmatist | 11th Dec 22, 6:11pm 1670735513

I thought the same about the instrument cluster, but after a day or two driving you soon adjust to glancing there to check speed, it's not actually bad, and no different from many combustion cars that have a centrally mounted instrument cluster

The car would better if it had two proper full function stalks for lights and wipers, but the automatic functions are both mostly okay, Auto headlights on/off are about a 98%, rarely feel the need to override them. Autowipers, not quite there yet, and when you do override there isn't enough granularity to set them to the right speed either. One of several minor annoyances.

by WhiskeyJack | 12th Dec 22, 11:29am 1670797751

The only issue with EV's is that second hand models have stuffed batteries and no range. People can't afford to buy new and you need petrol for the long trips 1h+. Otherwise you end up stuck halfway up the hill on the way home.

by Ocelot | 12th Dec 22, 1:27pm 1670804827

Interesting, hopefully there's plenty of battery electric cars that go really cheap soon. Long term I want to modify my 80 series Landcruiser into a battery electric, if there's plenty of EV's that are cheap because of old batteries that would be awesome.

by Firstclass | 12th Dec 22, 4:48pm 1670816900

Please wake me up when a brand new reliable electric vehicle appears under 45K.

The math is not working to me with these delusional expensive EVs.