New-car carnage as China crushes siblings

Newcomer Chinese brands are making a real impact on Australia's new-car market, with several household-name brands falling behind in November.

Stellantis is home to some of the best-known brands on the planet in Alfa Romeo, Jeep and Fiat, but it's the conglomerate's latest acquisition, new Chinese brand Leapmotor, that is now leading the factory's pack in Australia.

Jeep sales slumped to just 54 vehicles in November, putting it marginally ahead of Alfa Romeo (39 sales) and Fiat (32, excluding Fiat Professional, which managed 154 sales). That allowed Leapmotor to earn the crown of the OEM's best-selling passenger brand in November, with the C10 and B10 electric SUVs combining for 90 sales.

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Peugeot (distributed by Inchcape in Australia) managed 81 sales total.

Leading the Stellantis pack is Ram (although it is distributed in Australia through Ateco not its parent company) with a total 247 sales of the 1500, 2500 and 3500 combined. The other Stellantis brand, Maserati – also distributed through Ateco – delivered 15 sales.

A similar story is unfolding at the Geely group, where longtime Australian favourite Volvo – with its 629 sales in November – was outshone by its just-arrived sibling, Zeekr, which managed 727 sales. Just one Zeer model, the 7X, outsold the entire Volvo fleet. But neither managed to claim best-in-group status, with Geely selling 808 units across its two models.

Add to all of that the stratospheric gains of several other Chinese brands – Chery is up 105.3 per cent for the month, BYD is up 144.2 per cent – and the fact that three Chinese brands (MG, Great Wall and BYD) are now ensconced in our top 10, and it's clear the shape of Australia's new-car market is changing fast. LDV (-15 per cent month on month) and MG (-47.3 per cent month on month) are the only mainstream Chinese brands that didn't post gains, at least among those that have been in Australia long enough to report month on month results.

China has never been closer to second position on Australia's country of origin chart than it was in November, trailing Thailand (where the bulk of Australia's utes are produced) by just 698 vehicles (18,616 versus 19,314). Australians purchased 31 per cent more vehicles made in China in November 2025 than in the same month in 2024. Conversely, deliveries from Thailand fell by 7.1 per cent.