Toyota, Volkswagen, Ford, Daimler and General Motors, despite the fact that Tesla’s most basic Model 3 is sold at nearly S$200,000 ($148,300) in the city-state. In the United States, this model is sold at less than $40,000.
According to data published by Singapore’s Land Transport Authority (LTA), during the third quarter of this year, the number of new Teslas on the roads in the island nation rose to 487, from a mere 30 during the first half of 2021. While the government of Singapore did announce a S$45,000 subsidy for new purchases of EVs from this year, there is no single factor which has contributed to the sudden growth in Tesla’s sales over the past three months. However, it cannot be denied that the automaker has fared better in responding to the global supply chain issues in comparison to its rivals.
“Pent up demand is relatively large. Now the supply is in place and Tesla is most likely working through a large backlog,” Niels de Boer, an electro mobility expert at Nanyang Technological University (NTU), said.
This recent gain in sales for Tesla comes at a cost of its rivals in Singapore, given the strict limits on car registrations imposed by the government until 2025. During the third quarter of 2021, Nissan, as well as Daimler’s Mercedes-Benz, saw its average monthly new car registrations decline by 27 per cent and 45 per cent respectively. However, two of the top South Korean carmakers managed to claim a growth in sales during this period, despite a 15.8 per cent decline in monthly car registration on average. Kia’s sales increased by 25 per cent, while for Hyundai this figure was at 13.6 per cent.
