Chinese-Made MG4 Dethrones Tesla, Tops Australian Sales Charts

An aggressive price drop instantly sent the MG4 to the top of the October EV sales charts in Australia.

The price was cut to just AU$ 31,000 ($20,500) and sales tripled compared to September.
Australia stopped taxing imports of foreign-made electric vehicles in 2022, encouraging Chinese carmakers to come.

Chinese electric vehicles are proving popular outside the local market and are gaining ground not only in Europe but also in Australia. The MG4 became the country’s best-selling EV in October. With nearly 1,500 units sold last month, the MG4 dethroned the Tesla Model Y, which managed just over 1,000 sales (down from nearly 1,500 a month before).

In third place came the Model 3 with 422 sales, followed by the BYD Atto3 with 330 sales and the BYD Seal with 313 sales.

The MG4 EV is built by Chinese automaker SAIC Motor in four different factories spread around Asia. The company is also looking to set up shop in Europe and Mexico. This electric hatch has been winning a lot of praise from reviewers in Europe and Australia thanks to its surprisingly fun driving experience—courtesy of a claimed 50:50 weight distribution—unique design, good interior and decent range, all for a very attractive price.

We reviewed the MG4 electric hatchback to see what all the hype was about and had mostly good things to say about it. Our XPower test car had the top-tier dual-motor setup with 429 horsepower and could accelerate to 62 mph (100 km/h) in 3.8 seconds.

The MG4 was especially popular in Australia after a price cut in late September brought it under AU$ 31,000, equivalent to just under $20,500 at current exchange rates. It instantly became a sensational deal. This was announced as an “incentive price” to help drive MG4 sales and starting in November, the price climbed to AU$32,990 ($21,820), which is still a lot lower than the AU$41,110 ($27,200) it cost before the cut.

Australia’s third-best-selling EV in October, the Tesla Model 3, starts from AU$ 54,900 ($36,280), making it considerably more expensive than the MG4. The MG even undercuts the BYD Dolphin EV, which starts at AU$ 36,890 ($24,400) and the AU$ 52,500 ($34,700) Fiat 500e, both of which are smaller vehicles that are less practical and can’t match its range or performance.

The only EV you can buy in Australia that even comes close to matching the MG4 as a value-for-money proposition is the Great Wall Motors Ora (known as the Ora Cat in other markets). It starts at AU$ 35,990 ($23,800) but it's nowhere near as popular as the MG4, selling just 154 cars last month.

Australia’s The Driven says this is the first time Tesla has been dethroned as the EV sales leader in the country, and it attributes that to MG’s “aggressive pricing,” which was surely the reason behind the sudden sales spike. One month prior, in September, the MG4 was Australia’s third-best-selling EV with 385 sales to the Tesla Model Y’s 1,498.

The customs duty for electric vehicles imported into Australia has been zero since July 2022. There aren’t any signs of this being changed, despite increased levies on Chinese EVs imposed by Australian allies like the European Union and the United States, where import tariffs are now as high as 45% and 100%, respectively.

The prospect of the local market being flooded with Chinese-made EVs doesn’t seem to be a concern in Australia, which no longer has a home-grown automotive industry. It's already happening. Drive noted in May that 10 EV manufacturers from China that are either already present or will soon be launching cars. China is currently Australia’s third-largest source of new cars (after Thailand and Japan) ranking above the U.S., the European Union and South Korea.