Australia March 2026: BYD first Chinese on monthly podium, BEVs (+88.9%) at record 14.6% share

BYD is up to a record third place in March. The Sealion 08 is the #1 recent launch.

15/04 update: Now with Top 343 All models ranking.

The Australian new vehicle market is off -2.6% year-on-year to 108,703 in March on what was a new March record in 2025. The year-to-date tally over Q1 is down -1.8% to 290,598. This month we are starting to see the consequences of the Middle Eastern war and inflated fuel prices. Sales by alimentation show petrol sales sinking -20.8% to 34,694 and diesel down -10.1% to 28,364. Reversely hybrids are up 6.7% to 17,953, BEVs rise 88.9% to 15,839 and a record 14.6% share vs. 7.5% a year ago in March 2025 and PHEVs gain 18.5% to 8,215. BEV share over Q1 stands at 11.8%. Private sales are down -4.8% to 52,176, business fleets off -2.7% to 40,296, rentals up 23.6% to 6,714 and government fleets down -20.9% to 2,234.

SUVs gain 2.5% to 69,258 and 63.7% share vs. 60.6% in March 2025 and 58.9% two years ago but light commercials drop -10.5% to 21,990 and 20.2% share vs. 22% last year and 21% in 2024, passenger cars fall -9.9% to 13,817 and 12.7% share vs. 13.7% in 2025 and heavy commercials gain 5.5% to 3,638 and 3.3% share vs. 3.1% last year. Excluding Tesla and Polestar sales, all states and territories are down this month bar Queensland up 3.9% to 22,812. New South Wales is down -5.9% to 31,513, Victoria down -2.5% to 28,791, Western Australia down -7.3% to 11,202, South Australia down -7.3% to 6,622, Tasmania down -1.7% to 1,744, Australian Capital Territory down -4.7% to 1,579 and Northern Territory off -17.3% to 795. Looking at sales by country of origin, China (+45.1%) cements its newfound dominance with 30,993 sales ahead of Japan (-20.4% to 26,892), Thailand (-7.1% to 20,251), South Korea (-1.8% to 13,055) and Germany (-10.2% to 4,513).

There is a big reshuffle in the brands ranking. Toyota (-19.3%) continues to underperform at 15.2% share. This is still well above twice any other carmaker in the country. Kia (+0.2%) is stable year-on-year but climbs to a record 2nd place, also hit in June 2022 and September 2022. The event of the month is the best-ever third place of BYD (+50%) with 6.6% share and just 103 sales below Kia. This is the first time a Chinese manufacturer enters the monthly Australian podium. Mazda (-10.6%) and Ford (-13.2%) both struggle and are relegated to #4 and #5 respectively. GWM (+29.3%) is back to #7 and ascends to a record volume (5,680) and share (5.2%). For its part Chery (+84.1%) ranks #10 and manages an unbelievable 14th straight month of record volumes at 4,018. Tesla is up 23.2% to #13, Geely up 542.6% to #20 and Zeekr up 533% to #27.

Model-wise, the Ford Ranger (-9.7%) keeps the lead but falls heavily, it is followed like last month by the Toyota Hilux (+2.1%) and Tesla Model Y (+63.4%). The Model Y is now up to #8 year-to-date vs. #10 over the Full Year 2025. Boosted by promotions on the outgoing generation and demo sales of the new model, the Nissan X-Trail (+25.3%) surges 40 spots on February to #4, the nameplate’s new ranking record eclipsing its previous best of #6 reached in September 2018 and February 2024. The Hyundai Kona (+15.2%) is strong at #6 followed by the Chery Tiggo 4 (+80.4%) down three spots on last month to #7 but staying #3 year-to-date. Notice also the BYD Sealion 7 (+243.8%) up to #11. Still handicapped by a lengthy generation changeover, the Toyota RAV4 (-68.5%) ranks #20 both for the month and YTD. The BYD Sealion 8 is the best-selling recent launch at #35 above the Zeekr 7X (#42), Geely Starray (#46) and BYD Atto 2 (#49).

Previous month: Australia March 2026: China becomes #1 source country, Toyota off -27.8% to lowest share in 3 years

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

Full March 2026 Top 58 All brands and Top 343 All models below.