Tesla’s Australia sales soar in May — a bright spot amid struggles elsewhere
Electric vehicles outside a Tesla dealership in Melbourne on April 19, 2023.
William West | AFP | Getty Images
Tesla may be facing declining sales in the U.S. and Europe, but it reported a bright spot in Australia — where its electric vehicle sales rebounded to their highest level in nearly 12 months in May.
The American EV maker said Tuesday that its vehicle sales jumped to 3,897, primarily driven by record sales of its recently revamped Model Y compact sport utility vehicle.
Australian sales of the Model Y soared 122.5% year over year, while sales of the company’s Model 3 dropped significantly.
Total deliveries in Australia were up just 9.3% year over year but surged over 675% from April when the company sold only 500 EVs, according to data from the Australian Electric Vehicle Council.
The EV Council is the exclusive source of Tesla and Polestar sales data in Australia after the brands exited the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) last year.
Tesla’s April sales numbers for Australia had been the company’s worst performance of the year there. Despite the May rebound, the EV makers’ total sales in Australia remains down 48.2% year-to-date compared with the same period last year.
“Tesla’s strong sales growth in Australia this May is an encouraging sign, driven almost entirely by strong demand for the updated Model Y. But globally, Tesla is still facing headwinds,” Liz Lee, associate director at technology market research firm Counterpoint Research, told CNBC.
According to Counterpoint EV Sales Tracker, she added, Tesla’s sales were down 13% year on year in the first quarter. “Thus, while the latest Australian rebound is meaningful locally, it does not yet signal a broader global recovery.”
Musk and brand damage
Tesla’s global sales have suffered in recent months in light of increased competition and reputational damage related to CEO Elon Musk’s political rhetoric and activities.
For example, prior to May, Tesla’s Australia sales struggled amid reports of vandalism and protests related to Musk’s work with U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration and support for far-right parties in Europe.
Tesla reported on Tuesday that its sales in the U.S. were down 11% in May from last year. And European industry groups on Monday noted significantly lower sales for new Tesla vehicles in Spain, Portugal, Denmark and Sweden last month.
But there have been some bright spots. Tesla posted a surprise bounce back in Norway, where the Model Y helped it post 213% more vehicles in May from a year ago. Tesla also said it hit a record breaking 1,545 sales in Turkey last month.
That data comes after Trump hosted a press conference last week, where he announced that Elon Musk would be officially departing from his role within the federal government and White House.
Though Trump added that Musk will stay on as an advisor, in a research note following the announcement, Wedbush’s Dan Ives said he believed that Musk’s days in politics are essentially over after the brand damage suffered by Tesla.
The Tesla bull said Musk’s pivot back to the EV maker “was the best possible news Tesla investors could have heard,” with the rollout of its robotaxi launch expected later this month. Musk has said that Tesla has already been testing driverless Model Ys.
Tight competition
Musk’s return comes at a time when Tesla is also facing much tighter competition, especially from Chinese EV makers.
BYD, for example, has been expanding globally in the face of tight competition in its home market of China, and is increasingly going head to head with Tesla.
In April, China’s BYD outsold Tesla in Europe for the first time, according to JATO Dynamics. The automotive giant recently announced a slew of discounts, and other Chinese automakers are following suit. In March, it was revealed that Tesla fell behind BYD in total annual sales revenue.
And according to a report from JATO Dynamics, BYD sold more pure battery EVs in Europe than Tesla for the first time ever last month in what it called a “watershed moment.”
In May, however, Tesla was able to regain a lead against BYD in vehicle sales in Australia, with 3,897 sales compared with BYD’s 3,225, based on available data.
Its worth noting that Tesla exclusively sells battery electric vehicles, while BYD also sells hybrid cars. Battery EVs run entirely on electricity, while hybrid vehicles combine an electric battery with an internal combustion engine.
According to data that Australia’s FCAI sent to CNBC, sales of hybrid vehicles and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles — a type of hybrid that can be charged by being plugged into an external power source — rose by about 6% and 118%, respectively, year on year in May.
“Recent sales data indicate that consumers are increasingly turning to hybrid and plug-in hybrids as many Australians want to reduce their vehicle emissions,” said Tony Weber, chief executive of the FCAI.
He added that hybrids come without the range limitations associated with battery EVs, which is a particular concern in Australia.
Amid increasing global competition and threats from hybrid vehicles, Counterpoint’s Lee said, Tesla should continue to look to high-potential regions like India, Southeast Asia and parts of Latin America.
“These markets are ramping up EV infrastructure and incentives, and Tesla could benefit by moving early, especially if it localizes production and tailors offerings to local preferences,” she said.
Tesla announced on Tuesday that it is leasing a warehouse in Mumbai that is expected to be used for vehicle servicing as part of the company’s long-anticipated India expansion.
Tesla was up about 0.5% in trading on Tuesday and is down about 15% year-to-date.
U.S. President Donald Trump (L) listens as Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang speaks in the Cross Hall of the White House during an event on “Investing in America” on April 30, 2025 in Washington, DC.
Andrew Harnik | Getty Images
President Donald Trump on Monday said that he initially asked Nvidia for a 20% cut of the chipmaker’s sales to China, but the number came down to 15% after CEO Jensen Huang negotiated with him.
The comments came after news broke over the weekend that Nvidia agreed to pay the federal government a 15% cut in return for receiving export control licenses that will allow it to once again sell the H20 chip to China and Chinese companies. Nvidia’s Huang visited Trump in the White House on Friday.
“I said, ‘listen, I want 20% if I’m going to approve this for you, for the country,'” Trump said in a press conference in Washington.
Trump said that Nvidia’s H20 is an “old chip that China already has” and is “obsolete.” He compared the H20 chip to Nvidia’s current fastest artificial intelligence chip, which is called Blackwell, and said that he wouldn’t allow those to be sold to China without significant downgrades, such as a 30% to 50% reduction in performance.
“The Blackwell is super-duper advanced. I wouldn’t make a deal with that,” Trump said, adding that it was possible to make a deal for a “somewhat enhanced in a negative way” version of Blackwell.
“That’s the latest and the greatest in the world. Nobody has it. They won’t have it for five years,” Trump said.
One reason for the U.S. export controls is fear that providing advanced chips to China could allow the foreign power to leapfrog the U.S. in AI capabilities. Many have said that could pose a threat to the national security of the U.S.
Trump said that China already has chips with some similar capabilities to the H20.
Huang has said that it is better for U.S. national security if Chinese AI developers use U.S. technology, and that denying them access to Nvidia chips would actually encourage the Chinese chip industry to develop and catch up.
“He’s selling a essentially old chip,” Trump said. “Huawei has a similar chip.”
The H20 is a Chinese-specific chip that has had its performance slowed down. It is related to Nvidia’s H100 and H200 chips that are used in the U.S. The H20 was introduced after the Biden administration implemented export controls on AI chips in 2023.
In April, the Trump administration said it would require a license to export the H20 chip, and in May, Huang said that “effectively closed” the market off to Nvidia. Huang said that Nvidia was expecting to sell about $8 billion in H20 chips in the July quarter before sales were stopped.
“While we haven’t shipped H20 to China for months, we hope export control rules will let America compete in China and worldwide,” an Nvidia spokesperson told CNBC on Monday.
Trump on Monday also said that Huang plans to visit him again to negotiate export licenses for the Blackwell chips.
“I think he’s coming to see me again about that,” Trump said.
A White House official confirmed to CNBC that AMD, the second-place AI chip maker, will also pay 15% to receive an export license for its China-focused AI chip, the Instinct MI308.
WATCH: Nvidia, AMD to pay U.S. 15% of AI chip sales in China to secure export licenses
After four previous scrubs or delays in a row since August 7th SpaceX launches Amazon KF-02 Kuipeer Satellites after the 5th attempt August 11th 2025 at 8:35 AM SLC-40 Cape Canaveral, Brevard County, Florida USA.
Scott Schilke| SipaUSA |AP
Amazon shipped another batch of internet-beaming satellites into orbit on Monday atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, after four previous launch attempts were interrupted by weather issues.
Monday’s launch is the fourth Kuiper mission, and Amazon now has 102 satellites in orbit.
The Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, at 8:35 a.m. ET. Roughly an hour after launch, SpaceX confirmed all 24 of Amazon’s Kuiper satellites were successfully deployed.
The mission was originally scheduled for last Thursday, but SpaceX was forced to scrub the launch, along with three more attempts over the past few days due to rainfall.
For the second time, Amazon turned to Elon Musk‘s SpaceX, its chief competitor in the low-earth orbit satellite market, for help building out its constellation.
SpaceX’s Starlink is currently the dominant provider of low-earth orbit satellite internet, with a constellation of roughly 8,000 satellites and about 5 million customers worldwide.
Amazon is racing to get more of its Kuiper satellites into space to meet a deadline set by the Federal Communications Commission.
The FCC requires that Amazon have about 1,600 satellites in orbit by the end of July 2026, with the full 3,236-satellite constellation launched by July 2029.
Amazon has booked up to 83 launches, including three rides with SpaceX.
While the company is still in the early stages of building out its constellation, Amazon has already inked deals with governments as it hopes to begin commercial service later this year.
WATCH: Amazon launches first Kuiper internet satellites into space
-
Sports3 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports1 year agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports2 years agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports2 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports4 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Sports2 years agoButton battles heat exhaustion in NASCAR debut
-
Environment2 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Environment2 years agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike