Australia March 2025: BYD #1 Chinese brand, BEVs down -19.9%

The BYD Shark 6 is the third best-selling pickup in Australia again.

10/04 update: Now with Top 335 All models ranking.

For the first time this year, the Australian new vehicle market is in positive, delivering a new March record at 111,617 units (+1.8%). Q1 sales are off -2.8% to 295,952. The most interesting set of stats this month is sales by alimentation that show petrol off -8.3% to 43,785, diesel down -1.2% to 31,548, HEVs up 22.8% to 16,830 but BEVs sinking -19.9% to just 8,385 and 7.5% share vs. 9.5% a year ago. This is due in large part to Tesla’s struggles. Finally PHEV units surge 380.1% to 6,932 as customers rush to register their vehicle before the end of the Fringe Benefits Tax exemption for PHEVs on March 31. Private sales edge down -2.5% to 54,806 while business fleets are up 4.7% to 41,404. Rental fleets sink -13.5% to 5,434 and government sales skid -13.9% to 2,826.

SUV sales continue to surge at +26.3% to 67,586 and 60.6% share vs. 58.9% last year and 55% two years ago, with Light Commercials up 6.5% to 24,560 and 22% share vs. 21% in March 2024 and 22.6% the year prior. Passenger Cars freefall again at -12.9% to 15,335 and 13.7% share vs. 16.1% last year and 17.7% two years ago. Heavy commercial vehicles are down -20.6% to 3,448 and 3.1% share. All states and territories are in positive this month except from Queensland (-4.8% to 22,417). Western Australia leads the charge at +13.6% to 12,577 sales, followed by Tasmania +12.2% to 1,806, the Australian Capital Territory (+10.7% to 1,753) and South Australia (+4.5% to 7,304) and Northern Territory (+3.8% to 965). Volume leaders New South Wales (+1.7% to 34,367) and Victoria (+1.1% to 30,428) are more discreet. Looking at sales by country of origin, Japan is up 1% to 33,916, Thailand down -10% to 21,803 followed closely by China up 21% to 21,358. South Korea is off -3.4% to 13,288 and Germany up 12.6% to 5,424.

The Ford Ranger is back to the #1 overall ranking for the first time since last June.

In the brands charts, Toyota (+8.3%) is very solid year-on-year but its March share (18.4%) is below its YTD level (19.5%. Ford (-6.2%) reclaims the 2nd spot it held over the Full Year 2024 despite a significant loss. Mazda (-3%) and Kia (+3.4%) are relegated to #3 and #4 respectively ahead of Mitsubishi (-7.6%) in difficulty. Hyundai (+13.8%) rallies back up but is stuck in 6th place. The performer of the month is without a doubt BYD (+196.6%) tripling its sales year-on-year and breaking into the Top 10 for the first time directly at #7. BYD is therefore the best-selling Chinese brand in Australia for the first time. GWM (+21.4%) also impresses at #8, breaking its volume record at 4,393. MG (-0.6%) is down to #10. Chery (+293.2%) continues to gear up spectacularly. In contrast Tesla (-53%) is decimated. We welcome Geely at #35. Not reporting sales are Deepal, Ineos, Mahindra, Smart and Xpeng.

Model-wise, the Ford Ranger (-12.9%) is back to the top spot for the first time since last June and despite a steep year-on-year fall. The Toyota RAV4 (-14.8%) is dethroned but holds onto the YTD top spot for now (and for just 576 sales). The Toyota Hilux (+2.2%) remains in third place ahead of the Mitsubishi Outlander (+8.7%) at a record #4 also hit in June 2024. The Toyota Prado (+543.7%) rounds out the Top 5 with a stellar year-on-year lift due to the new model. The BYD Shark 6 spectacularly repeats at #6 with a record 2.5% share, proving that last month’s result was not a fluke. However sales have definitely been boosted by the upcoming end of the tax exemption on PHEVs. 

Previous month: Australia February 2025: BYD Shark 6 lands with a bang

One year ago: Australia March 2024: Ford up to #2 brand, Everest breaks ranking record

Full March 2025 Top 52 All brands and Top 335 All models below.