Cars imported from China are continuing their surge up the new car sales charts with data from the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) and Electric Vehicle Council (EVC) showing that just under 21,000 cars sold in Australia in January were made in China, up a massive 68.6 per cent over the same period last year.

Four of the top 10 selling brands in Australia are now from China, with BYD in sixth place ahead of GWM in seventh. Chery holds down ninth spot while MG rounds out the top 10.

Japanese-built cars continue to lead the way, although sales of 22,394 vehicles showed a marked drop, down 24,6 per cent year-on-year.

1

In third place, cars imported from Thailand – which had previously held down second spot – also recorded a modest drop, down 7.7 per cent with just over 17,000 sales.

China’s growth comes on the back of strong results for BYD (5001 sales, up 640.9 per cent), Chery (3780, up 105.8), and GWM (4509, up 31.3) while newcomers such as Zeekr (469 sales), Omoda Jaecoo (691), and Geely (720) also posted strong January results.

Of the Japanese brands, Toyota posted a 22.3 per cent drop in sales compared with last year, thanks largely to the imminent arrival of the new-generation RAV4 which has seen sales of runout models slow as stock levels are depleted. There’s more pain likely ahead for Toyota, with the new RAV4 not due to hit dealerships until sometime in April.

1

Other brands including Mazda (down 7.6 per cent), Mitsubishi (down 23.5), Nissan (down 38.4) and Suzuki (down 36.5) also lost market share.

Of the top five brands in Australia in January, only Hyundai (up 6.9 per cent) and Kia (up 15.4) improved over their January 2025 results.

Top 10 Countries of Origin – January 2026

1 Japan – 22,943
2 China – 20,921
3 Thailand – 17,072
4 Korea – 11,277
5 Germany – 4346
6 USA – 2239
7 Mexico – 1709
8 South Africa – 1047
9 England – 584
10 Turkey – 565