China’s Aussie new car dominance explodes

In a milestone market share breakthrough vehicles manufactured in China accounted for one in five new cars sold in Australia in October this year.

A combination of VFacts registration data, compiled by the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI), and sales numbers from the Electric Vehicle Council show 20,405 Chinese-built cars found homes in Australia from a total market of 100,658 units.

That’s a 20.3 per cent market share compared to 15.4 per cent for the same month last year (15,401 cars from an October 2024 total of 99,951).

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The biggest contributors to the increase were recent new model introductions like the BYD Sealion 7 (1341 sales vs zero in October 2024), BYD Shark 6 (1070 sales vs zero), Chery Tiggo 4 Pro (1975 sales vs 354), Jaecoo J8 (375 sales vs zero) and Zeekr 7X (178 vs zero).

This landmark number comes as BYD Australia’s recently-appointed Chief Operating Officer Stephen Collins said the brand is aiming for “around top three” in Australia by the end of 2026.

This would see BYD rising from its current eighth position, displacing the likes of Mazda, Kia, Hyundai, Mitsubishi and GWM in the process.

Despite facing severe tariff barriers in the USA, BYD has also targeted global exports of 1.6 million vehicles in 2026.

2026 BYD Shark 6

2026 BYD Sealion 7

2026 Chery Tiggo 4 Pro

2026 Omoda Jaecoo J8

2026 Zeekr 7X

At the same time, Geely’s premium sub-brand Zeekr plans to launch at least one new model every year in Australia.

Zeekr International Chief Operating Officer Allan Li recently told CarsGuide, “I think (Australia) is a very good market for Zeekr, because we attract people from high income and high education backgrounds. The Australian market is very open to Chinese brands.”