Sales of second-hand electric vehicles more than doubled in the last month as rising fuel prices caused by the conflict in the Middle East sent motorists looking for alternatives to petrol and diesel cars.
Figures compiled for automotive dealerships recorded a 138 per cent rise in sales between February and March – and a massive slump in supply – with Tesla’s Model 3 and Model Y the most popular cars on the second-hand market. EVs made by MG and BYD were also popular purchases.
The data was compiled by analytics consultancy Autograb for the Australian Automotive Dealer Association, and suggested there was less than a month’s supply of second-hand EVs on the market, down from 77 days in February before the Middle East war started.
The abrupt surge in popularity in second-hand EVs – 3340 were sold every month on average since October, while 7557 were sold in March – points to the tempering of buyer concerns about their cost and the faster deterioration in value thanks to rapidly advancing battery technology.
Before the conflict, some luxury models retained as little as 35 per cent of their original value within the first five years of ownership.
But Iran’s blockage of the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial route for about 20 per cent of the world’s oil, and the resulting fuel shock have sparked demand in the second-hand market as a more cost-effective entry point, especially as manufacturers’ wait times blow out due to rising demand.
“Australians are doing the maths, and they’re acting on it,” said Autograb chief commercial officer Saxon Odgers, adding that it was too early to say how long the demand for second-hand EVs would last.
“I think this EV trend has been slowly creeping up; we’re seeing diversification in model line-ups through the manufacturers,” he said. “In true Aussie form, it takes something like a fuel increase to really drive that demand, and we’re seeing that continue well into April.”
Sales of EVs hit a monthly record in March, accounting for nearly 15 per cent of total new car sales. The demand for EVs has predominantly favoured Chinese manufacturers, such as BYD, which reached a new milestone last month when it became the country’s third-best-selling car brand.
“Dealers have consistently demonstrated their ability to adapt to changing market conditions, and the presence of EVs being offered by dealers in the used market is another example of that evolution in action,” said Australian Automotive Dealer Association chief executive James Voortman.
Sales of EVs hit a monthly record in March, accounting for nearly 15 per cent of total new car sales. The demand for EVs has predominantly favoured Chinese manufacturers, such as BYD, which reached a new milestone last month when it became the country’s third-best-selling car brand.
“Dealers have consistently demonstrated their ability to adapt to changing market conditions, and the presence of EVs being offered by dealers in the used market is another example of that evolution in action,” said Australian Automotive Dealer Association chief executive James Voortman.
Rohan Martin, the chief executive of the National Automotive Leasing and Salary Packaging Association, said he expected more second-hand EVs to become available as leases through a fringe benefits tax exemption that began in 2022 expire. The Albanese government is also reviewing the exemption.
Martin said that, of the 61,000 second-hand EVs that had hit the market, nearly half came from fleets or leases. “With the electric car discount commencing on 1 July 2022, and the average EV novated lease tenure being four years, we expect an even larger volume of EVs to roll off leases and into the second-hand market over the coming year and beyond,” he said.
Extracted in full from: https://www.afr.com/companies/transport/second-hand-ev-sales-more-than-double-as-drivers-avoid-petrol-shock-20260413-p5znip
