Is the electric car price war ending? MG ZS EV price rise follows steeper starting point for MG4 as BYD Seal and Tesla Model Y prices stay steady

The electric car price war that has raged in Australia for the past few months might be drawing to a close.

MG, maker of affordable EVs, appears to be stepping away from the rabid price war that has led electric makers such as Peugeot, Nissan, Tesla, BYD and GWM to slash the price of their cars by thousands this year.

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• The electric car price war that has raged in Australia for the past few months might be drawing to a close.
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MG has ditched drive-away prices for the ZS EV, which previously commenced at $39,990 no more to pay for the Excite variant. The range now starts at about $43,000 or about $3000 more.

The better equipped Essence and Long Range variants are about $1500 to $2000 more than before at roughly $46,000 and $51,200.

These moves are in stark contrast to what other carmakers have been doing in the past few months.

BYD has knocked up to $8000 off 2023 Atto 3 demonstrators and Peugeot slashed $25,000 off the price of its E-2008 small electric SUV. Peugeot has since sold out of the E-2008 and it won't be on sale until an updated model has arrived.

Nissan has lopped $16,000 off the price of its slow-selling Leaf electric hatchback.

GWM cut thousands off the price of the Ora hatch to $35,990 drive-away, which makes it Australia’s cheapest EV.

Tesla cut the price of the Model Y and 3 repeatedly in April.

The Model Y is between $4500 and $8500 cheaper than it was in March and the Model 3 is between $3000 and $4000 more affordable.

Electric car sales exploded in 2023, but the growth has been much more modest in 2024. This has resulted in many makers cutting prices to drive sales.

So far this year sales are up about 16 per cent through the first six months of the year.

In contrast Australian buyers have been increasingly gravitating towards hybrid models this year with petrol-electric models more than doubling.

This is being driven by increased supply by Toyota, which responded by making its entire range of hatchbacks, sedans and (non off-road) SUVs hybrid only, and increased hybrid options from big brands such as Kia and Hyundai.

MG just launched a hybrid version of its small MG3 hatchback, too.

The Chinese maker told CarsGuide previously a new version of the ZS small SUV isn’t far away and this would likely usher in a refreshed electric version, too.