Marginal new-car sales growth attributed to just two Chinese brands

Australia’s new-vehicle market is flatlining, but significant sales growth by two Chinese auto brands is propping up the numbers.

According to figures released by the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) and the Electric Vehicle Council (EVC) this week, sales of new cars grew by 1.8 per cent last month (September 2026) – dragging slightly behind the year-to-date figure of 2.0 per cent.

However, data analysis by CarExpert reveals the market would be in contraction if it weren’t for BYD and Geely.

With explosive year-on-year (YoY) sales growth of 870.3 per cent, Geely was the greatest contributor last month, adding 4473 vehicles to September’s total. Without it, the new-car market would be down 2.0 per cent.

Similarly, BYD’s monumental rise to the number two position, behind Toyota, has also contributed to the positive print. Removing BYD would have resulted in an overall market drop of 1.2 per cent last month – even without including BYD's premium brand Denza.

The sales figures from BYD and Geely are masking a broader overall trend, which could be considered an economic indicator of underlying weakness in the market.

Excluding both Geely and BYD from sales data would have resulted in a YoY market decline of 5.2 per cent in September.

While Geely was the greatest contributor in September, BYD has made the most impact in year-to-date (YTD) terms.

Without BYD, Australian new-car sales would be in negative territory, down 2.2 per cent YTD. Removing Geely’s contribution would see the market down just 0.2 per cent – or flat at 0.03 per cent without Tesla sales.

None of the other manufacturers would have had such a positive impact on sales data as BYD or Geely.

Meanwhile, Geely has grown to 100 dealerships in Australia in just 18 months.

In contrast with Australia's new-car market growth of just 1887 sales in September, Chinese brands grew their sales by 75.2 per cent YoY last month, when all other brands shrank by 15.1 per cent combined.

Mitsubishi experienced a 41.5 per cent drop in September sales, posting the greatest negative volume change with 1968 fewer vehicles sold.

In percentage terms, Subaru fared worse, with a sales drop of 42.6 per cent last month – though it came out slightly better by volume, with 1494 fewer sales.

Compared with September 2025, Suzuki was down 39.3 per cent, Volkswagen declined 36.9 per cent, and Nissan dropped by 30.0 per cent. By comparison, Australia’s top-selling auto brand, Toyota, saw a sales decline of just 3.5 per cent YoY last month.

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