Chinese brands battle each other! BYD and Chery topple LDV and MG as the Australian new car market braces for more newcomers like Denza, Forthing, JMC, Lepas and Wey

In 2026 it appears two ‘new’ new challenger brands have overtaken a pair of ‘old’ new challenger brands in the Aussie new car market.

Two of the earliest automotive disrupters from China, LDV and MG, have been heading backwards in terms of year-on-year sales performance in recent months while relative newcomers BYD and Chery continue to grow at a spectacular rate.

For context, MG suffered something of a false start here with the MG6 in 2013, distributed by private importer Longwell Motor (operating as MG Motor Australia).

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But the MG brand (re)launched here as a SAIC factory subsidiary in 2016, with the first cars registered - a bunch of elderly MG6s as well as the new MG GS and MG3 - in early 2017.

MG’s SAIC Motor Corporation cousin LDV entered the Aussie new vehicle market way back in 2013.

At first, the focus was the V80 van range before independent importer/distributor Ateco Group broadened the brand’s scope with the addition of the G10 van, T60 ute and D90 SUV through 2017.

And looking at the annual sales volumes for these brands from 2017, the parallels are striking, with both growing impressively thanks to increasing awareness, new models and sharp positioning, until they reach a turning point in 2024.

BYD Atto 3

MG went from 600 registrations in 2017 to no less than 58,346 in 2023; perilously close to a 10,000 per cent rise in six years! Meanwhile, LDV rose from 2580 to 21,298, an increase of only 725 per cent for the same period.

So, what happened in 2023? Two words… Chery and BYD (well, four if you include Build Your Dreams).

Chery had re-started its Aussie efforts as a factory subsidiary after a less than stellar run with the J1 hatch and J11 compact SUV from 2011-2015 (with Ateco as distributor).

MG ZS Hybrid

And BYD had landed with the Atto 3 compact electric SUV which made an immediate impression on the sales charts.

Since then, each has added more and more new model options that have found their way onto a huge number of Aussie driveways.

As MG sales softened 29 per cent from 58,346 units in 2023 to 41,298 in 2025, LDV followed suit dropping 34 per cent from 21,298 sales to 14,108 in the same period.

LDV T60 Max Plus

So far in 2026, to the end of February, MG is down 14.7 per cent year-on-year (6377 vs 7479), while LDV is 9.4 per cent lower (2125 vs 2346).

And the current superstars? Chery is up 91.2 per cent (7718 vs 2875 - hello, Tiggo 4) and BYD is a staggering 161 per cent ahead (10,324 vs 3956).

Nothing like competition to shuffle the new car pecking order. And it will be fascinating to see how Chery and BYD fare as even more newcomers like Denza, Forthing, JMC, Lepas, Wey and others make their mark in the near future.