Australia May 2025: Tesla Model Y and Chery Tiggo 4 Pro shine in market off -1.6%

The Chery Tiggo 4 Pro is up to #12 in May.

20/06 update: Now with Top 333 All models ranking.

The Australian new vehicle market edges down -1.6% year-on-year in May to 109,425 units, still the 2nd best ever May volume below last year’s 111,099. Were it not for sales to rental companies, up a fantastic +15.1% to 5,810, the market would have fallen much faster. Indeed private sales, traditionally a good indicator of a market’s health, fall -6.4% to 52,728. Meanwhile business fleets are down -2.7% to 39,893 and government fleets off -25.7% to 2,927. SUVs continue to dominate the Australian new car landscape, up 12.9% to 67,440 and 61.6% share vs. 53.8% a year ago and 55.8% in 2023. Light Commercials skid -7.2% to 23,493 and 21.5% share vs. 22.8% last year and 22.5% two years ago and Passenger Cars sink -31.5% to 14,565 and 13.3% share vs. 19.1% in 2024 and 17.1% in 2023. Heavy Commercials amount to 3,927 units for a 3.6% market share.

In terms of sales by power source, petrol is down -9% to 41,147, diesel off -1.1% to 34,115, HEVs up 5.5% to 17,089, BEVs register a very solid 10.4% year-on-year gain to 10,065 and 9.2% share and PHEV sales shoot up 117.6% to 3,081 despite the end of a Fringe Benefits Tax (FBT) exemption for PHEVs from April 1. All states and territories are down this month (this excludes Tesla and Polestar). New South Wales is at -2.9% to 32,177, Victoria at -4.7% to 28,671, Queensland at -2.6% to 22,924, Western Australia at -10.1% to 11,084, South Australia at -12.1% to 6,596, Tasmania at -14.8% to 1,549, Australian Capital Territory at -15.5% to 1,413 and Northern Territory at -12.8% to 871. Looking at country of production, Japan is down -6.1% to 32,110, Thailand is off -9.3% to 22,540, China is lurking just behind, up 27.1% to 21,381, South Korea is down -14.4% to 12,531 and Germany off -1.4% to 5,080.

Its facelift pushes the Tesla Model Y up to #4 

In the brands ranking, Toyota goes agains the negative trend with a tiny uptick at +0.8% year-on-year, leading to a strong 21.5% market share vs. 20.3% so far this year. Ford (-3.9%), Mazda (-2%) and Kia (-8%) follow with negative results. Hyundai (+3.3%) is up but stuck in 5th place while Mitsubishi (-25.6%) dives and ensures the Top 6 is unchanged on last month. Isuzu Ute (-2.6%) is back above GWM (+11.8%) still in great shape followed by Tesla (+9.3%) back inside the Top 10 for the first time this year at #9. MG (-21.4%) disappoints at #10. Chery (+283.7%) continues to shoot up, breaking its monthly volume record at 2,755 but down one spot on April to #15. Mini (+126.5%), BYD (+68.5%), Lexus (+34.9%), Land Rover (+18%) and Porsche (+13.3%) also shine below. Recent launch Geely is up to #26 while we welcome Omoda Jaecoo (#31), Deepal (#42) and GMC (#46) in the charts.

Model-wise, the Toyota Hilux (-13.2%) repeats at #1 despite a steep year-on-year fall, however this is still better than the Ford Ranger (-19.5%) and Toyota RAV4 (-27.4%). Note the Ranger overtakes the RAV4 to rank #1 year-to-date, and the Ranger 4×4 outsold the Hilux 4×4 by 4,481 to 4,208. The Tesla Model Y (+122.5%) surges 76 spots on April to #4 overall thanks to the new model and in complete contrast with its results in the rest of the world. This is the nameplate’s highest ranking since March 2024 (#3). The Toyota Prado (+2935.6%) repeats at #5 and ranks #4 year-to-date, it is followed by the Isuzu D-Max (+1.2%) and Ford Everest (+12.3%) both solid. The Mazda CX-5 (+7.4%), Toyota Land Cruiser (+37.7%) and Hyundai Kona (+5.9%) complete the Top 10. This is the Kona’s fourth time at a record #10 after last  October, February and March. The other performance of the month is delivered by the new Chery Tiggo 4 Pro. After scoring its first Top 20 finish last month at #20, it improves its record ranking to #12, becoming the best-selling Chinese model in Australia above the MG ZS (#13). Note the BYD Shark 6 slips out of the Top 20 at #23.

Previous month: Australia April 2025: GWM and Chery break records, Toyota Hilux #1

One year ago: Australia May 2024: All time high market, Toyota Camry (+185.6%) and Hyundai Kona (+127.4%) stand out

Full May 2025 Top 60 All brands and Top 333 All models below.