The BYD Sealion 7 ranks inside the Australian Top 10 in April.
94,049 new vehicles hit Australian roads in April, a 3.8% year-on-year increase. The year-to-date tally is now down -0.7% to 384,636. Private sales are up an encouraging 7.4% to 47,850 units, business fleets are up 2.2% to 34,898 but rentals are down -18.8% to 4,800 and government sales off -19.3% to 2,056. SUVs account for 66.1% of the market in April vs. 60.3% a year ago and 55.7% in 2025, light commercials are at 18.5% vs. 22.6% and 22%, passenger cars at 12.2% vs. 14.2% and 17.8% and heavy commercials at 3.2% vs. 3.8% in 2025. As far as country of production is concerned, China is up by a whopping 88.9% to cement its newfound leadership at 29,499 sales, followed by Japan (-18.2%) at 22,904, Thailand (-17.4%) at 15,873, South Korea (+1.4%) at 11,247 and Germany (+1.9%) at 4,438.
Petrol sales sink -30.1% to 25,399, diesel is down -21.7% to 22,414 and HEVs improve 27.1% to 18,162. The big news this month is the record share of BEVs at 16.4% thanks to sales up 157.2% to 15,459. This is compared with 6.6% in April 2025 and 14.6% last month which was a record at the time. It is all the more impressive because Tesla is weak this month. Finally PHEVs surge an even more spectacular 270.2% to 9,628 and 10.2% share vs. 2.8% in April 2025. Looking at sales by state and region, New South Wales is up 2.8% to 27,830, Victoria up 1.6% to 24,789, Queensland down -1.4% to 19,912, Western Australia up 4.4% to 10,093, South Australia up 3.6% to 6,074, Tasmania up 19.8% to 1,637, Australian Capital Territory up 16.2% to 1,392 and Northern Territory up 3.1% to 864.
There are a few striking trends at play in the brands charts. Toyota (-21.6%) continues its race to the bottom, enduring a 4th consecutive double-digit YoY loss and a 6th straight decline. The event of the month is delivered by BYD, up a spectacular 140.2% to snap the 2nd spot overall. Needless to say the Chinese carmaker breaks all its records this month with 7,702 sales and a stunning 8.2% share. Kia (+2.3%) is down one spot to #3, ahead of Hyundai (+8.2%) up two to #4. Ford (-21.6%) and Mazda (-14.3%) both struggle mightily, with the latter hitting its lowest ranking in at least 15 years.
Three Chinese brands follow: GWM (+21.8%), Chery (+89%) breaking its volume record for the 15th month in a row at 4,322 and also reaching a record share at 4.6%. MG (+18.5%) ranks #9. Mitsubishi (-23%) is kicked out of the Top 10 for the first time in at least 15 years and probably a lot more as it used to be a successful local producer here. The Chinese donβt stop there and a lot of them post record results this month. Geely (+519.1%) is inside the Top 15 and above 2,000 monthly sales for the first time, newcomer Omoda Jaecoo cracks the Top 20 at #19 with record volumes and share, Zeekr (+1634.5%) does the same at #24 and 1.1% share, while newcomer Denza breaks into the Top 30 for the first time at #28.
Looking at the models ranking, finally through with its painful generation changeover, the Toyota RAV4 (-2.1%) returns to the pole position for the first time this year. It distances the Ford Ranger (-9.2%) and a Toyota Hilux (-31.2%) clearly not helped by the new model. The Chery Tiggo 4 (+104.2%) is back to #4 and cements its third place YTD. Excellent showing for the Hyundai Kona (+34.5%), up to a splendid #4 YTD whereas its best ever ranking is #5 last October. The BYD Sealion 7 (+139.6%) is up three spots on March to #8 and the GWM Haval Jolion (+23.3%) is up one to #9. In fact BYD places five models in the Top 50: the Shark 6 (+6%) at #15, the new Sealion 8 at #30, the Atto 3 (+87%) at #40, the new Atto 2 at #41 and the new Atto 1 at #49. Other notable performers include the Geely EX5 (+271%) and #21, the new Zeekr 7X at #24, the new Geely Starray at #36 and the new Jaecoo J5 at #39.
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