Japan Just Lost Its Lead As Australia’s Top Car Importer

  • Japan has been Australia’s top vehicle source since 1998.
  • Australia sold 22,362 Chinese cars during February.
  • Four of Australia’s 10 top-selling brands now come from China.

With no local car manufacturing industry left to protect, Australia has moved quickly to embrace the growing wave of cars arriving from China. New data show that shift has reached a notable milestone. For the first time ever in a single month, China became the largest source of new vehicles sold in Australia in February.

Ever since 1998, Japan has been the country’s primary source of new vehicles, but the balance appears to be changing. In February, 22,362 new Chinese cars were sold locally, edging past Japan with 21,671. Thailand followed in third place with 19,493, while South Korea accounted for 11,913 units.

Read: Chinese Carmaker Busted Illegally Stockpiling Cars In Australia

Overall, sales of Chinese-built vehicles rose 50.5 percent year-on-year, while Japanese-built vehicles fell by 31.3 percent and Korean-built vehicles slipped by 2.9 percent. The figures also include vehicles made in China by non-Chinese brands such as Tesla and Kia, which are increasingly manufacturing models there for export markets.

Chinese car brands have become increasingly prominent in Australia, to the point that four of the country’s 10 best-selling brands now originate from the People’s Republic. Leading the charge is BYD, which sold 5,323 vehicles in February. That result represented a 62.2 percent increase compared with the same month last year.

Australia’s Best-Selling Brands
Japan Just Lost Its Lead As Australia’s Top Car Importer

That figure represents a 5.9 percent market share and places the brand close behind Hyundai, which recorded 6,266 sales. Year-to-date, BYD has sold 10,324 vehicles in Australia, giving it a 5.8 percent share of the market.

Chinese Brands Expand Lineup

Trailing BYD is GWM, or Great Wall Motor. The company has sold 9,198 vehicles locally this year, including 4,689 in February alone. That performance gives it a 5.2 percent share of the market and moves it ahead of Mitsubishi to become the nation’s seventh most popular brand.

Chery has also secured a place inside the top 10, sitting in ninth position with 7,718 sales year-to-date. The brand delivered 3,938 vehicles in February alone, representing a 93.2 percent increase year-on-year. MG rounds out the group as Australia’s tenth most popular brand, recording 6,377 sales across January and February.

Ranger Still Leads The Sales Charts

Japan Just Lost Its Lead As Australia’s Top Car Importer

Unsurprisingly, the Ford Ranger remains Australia’s best-selling new vehicle, with 4,325 sales last month, placing it ahead of the Toyota Hilux. In an unexpected third place was the Chery Tiggo 4 Pro, with 2,315 units sold. That figure represents a sharp increase from the 1,068 delivered in February last year.

The Toyota RAV4, meanwhile, posted unusually weak numbers. Typically one of Australia’s best-selling models, it recorded just 723 sales last month, down 83.6 percent from the 4,405 units delivered in January 2025. Importantly, this decline does not appear to reflect falling demand. Instead, inventory of the outgoing model is running low as dealers prepare for the arrival of the next-generation RAV4 later this month.

Australia’s Best-Selling Models
Japan Just Lost Its Lead As Australia’s Top Car Importer
FCAI

The Auto World

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