Chinese-made cars now occupy three places in Australia’s top 10 bestsellers – with Tesla tying Toyota for the number of most popular models for the first time.
Sales of Chinese-made cars increased by 68.5 percent compared to a year earlier.
The rising popularity of electric cars last month saw the Tesla Model Y and Tesla Model 3 take fourth and tenth places respectively, while the MG ZS claimed ninth place, data from the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries showed.
China’s three positions in the monthly top 10 tied for Thailand’s three positions, and more than two for Japan and South Korea.
Chinese-made cars now hold three places in Australia’s top 10 for the first time ever – with Tesla (Model 3 pictured on South Australia’s Yorke Peninsula) now tying market leader Toyota for number of most popular models
This is happening as more Australians buy electric vehicles, with China making the most popular Teslas sold in Australia, along with an EV version of the MG ZS and BYDs.
When it comes to car brands, Chinese-made cars took two spots in the top 10, with Tesla in seventh place with 3,676 cars sold last month, including 2,095 for the Model Y, priced from $68,900, and 1,581 for the Model 3, sold from $60,900.
Toyota was Australia’s number 1 marque, but only had two cars in the top 10 – including the Toyota HiLux in second place and the RAV4 in fourth place.
For the time ever, Toyota had the same number of cars in the top 10 as Tesla.
MG was Australia’s eighth most popular brand with 3,463 sales in April, including 1,588 for the MG ZS.
Year-to-date car sales from China, for the first four months of 2023, were 68.5 percent higher than the same period in 2022 with 13,426 units sold in April.
That meant 16 percent of the 82,137 new cars sold in Australia last month came from China.
Japan was still the largest source of vehicles with 22,304 vehicles sold in April, ahead of Thailand, where 15,886 cars left the showroom.
But China came third, ahead of South Korea, the source of 12,952 cars sold last month.
Electric cars had a market share of 8 percent in April, but when gasoline-electric hybrids and plug-in hybrids are included, that rose to 15.4 percent.
FCAI chief executive Tony Weber said half of Australia’s most popular cars were available with some kind of electric motor.
When it comes to car brands, Chinese-made cars took two spots in the top 10, with Tesla in seventh place with 3,676 cars sold last month, including 2,095 for the Model Y (pictured) and 1,581 for the Model 3
MG was Australia’s eighth most popular brand with 3,463 sales in April, including 1,588 for the MG ZS (EV version shown)
“It’s worth noting that five of the top 10 models sold in April offer some form of electrification,” he said.
Toyota, Australia’s perennial market leader, does not have fully electric cars, but offers the Mirai, a hydrogen-powered car, and hybrid versions of the Prius, RAV4, Camry, Corolla and Yaris.
Utes still dominate the sales charts, with the Australian-designed but Thai-built Ford Ranger in first place for the second straight month with 3,567 sales, ahead of the Toyota HiLux with 3,526 sales.