Search the Community

Tesla Becomes #6 Best-Selling Car Brand in Singapore in September Selling Only One Model. https://www.tesmanian.com/blogs/tesmanian-blog/tesla-became-the-1-ev-6-best-selling-car-brand-among-all-in-singapore-in-september Usually, Tesla does not enter a country quietly but bursts into it loudly. After two months of sales in Singapore, Tesla became the best-selling EV and created serious competition for gasoline and diesel cars, becoming the #6 best-selling car brand in September. Tesla sales in Singapore began in the last days of July. On July 29, the manufacturer delivered the first Model 3s to customers, marking Tesla's official entry into the city-state market after years of difficult relationships and uncertainties. The delivery event took place at the new showroom in Toa Payoh, which also houses the manufacturer's service center. Since then, the company has influenced significant change in the country's automotive market. Tesla became the best-selling electric vehicle in September and in Q3 2021, according to information from the Land Transport Authority posted by @darenyoong/Twitter. This is not surprising, since the manufacturer sold 314 vehicles in September alone, which is a high figure for the local market. However, the more impressive part is that Tesla became the #6 best-selling car in the country in September, not as much behind the competition as you might imagine. Having sold 314 cars in September, Tesla only trailed Hyundai by three units. Toyota is in first place with 778 units. In second place is Honda with 466 units, in third place is Mercedes Benz with 449, and in fourth place is BMW with 425. It should be kept in mind that Tesla sells only one single model in Singapore---Model 3--while all competitors sell several models at the same time. At the moment, Tesmanian could not find sales data by model, however it seems that Model 3 has also become one of the best-selling models in the country. Toyota sold 231 "petrol" vehicles, 1 "diesel" and 546 "others" vehicles in September, according to figures published on the Land Transport Authority's website. Each gasoline model sold in the Singapore market loses individually to the sales of Model 3. The "other" category includes "hybrid" vehicles sold by Toyota, of which there are about seven models and sales amounted to 546 units. Thus, it is reasonable to assume that Model 3 could well surpass the sales of each model and become the best-selling car in the country, or at least take one of the top spots. Once sales data by model becomes available, Tesmanian will publish a more detailed analysis.

So, Tesla have announced their withdrawal from the Singapore market, after six months here and having not sold a single car. What a pity. The official reason given was that Tesla did not receive 'green' tax breaks from the Government, and so found it unviable to market their exotic electrically-charged sports cars locally. Without the tax breaks, the Tesla Roadster would cost the better part of half a million Singapore dollars, but with the tax breaks, that figure might be reduced by as much as half, broadening its appeal to the car-buying population. That said, Singapore hasn't exactly been well set-up in terms of infrastructure to cope with electric cars, at least not yet anyway. Charging stations are few and far between, and the problem of charging the cars for apartment-dwellers, which number the majority of Singapore's population, hasn't yet been fully resolved. Tesla gave examples of how other Asian markets gave the American company 'enthusiastic support', such as Japan, which grants a 2.61million yen (S$40,000) rebate for each Tesla buyer, and Hong Kong and Malaysia, where electric cars are exempted from tax. For a country our size, and well-known for efficiency, Tesla's withdrawal seems like a bit of a farce. We can only speculate the real reasons why Tesla decided to pull the plug on our local market, but for car enthusiasts with a green heart, the withdrawal of Tesla strikes yet another blow to our already dampening car scene. On a personal note, I find myself slightly amused at the news. Because a while back, Tesla actually approached me for a position as their Singapore store manager. Unfortunately, I didn't get past the interview stage. But imagine if I did clinch the job, I would be out of it now, without having done anything. Instead, I now write about them on sgCarMart. It's funny how life turns out.