Australia's best selling cars

The Xiaomi YU7 GT electric SUV has just been exposed in China, and it comes with some bonkers performance numbers.

The Australian new car market is going through one of its biggest changes to date.A wave of budget-focused Chinese brands has washed over the market in the past two years, eating away into the sales of many established carmakers.The emergence of new technologies such as hybrid, plug-in hybrid and battery electric vehicles will change the cars we drive forever.Despite that, some things have stayed the same. Diesel-powered utes and 4WDs are the dominant force in Aussie motoring, but new models are snapping at their heels.Here are the best selling 100 vehicles in Australia during the past year.

Can any brand knock Toyota off its throne?

The Toyota GR Corolla is bringing some efficiency and structural updates that are set to sharpen up the Japanese hot hatch.The Kia EV4 sedan will be the first EV4 body style to arrive, with its production in South Korea meaning it's easier to get here first.Closely related to the EV3, the EV4 is longer, wider and taller than a Tesla Model 3.Built in Slovakia and set to arrive later, the Kia EV4 hatch will mirror the sedan in many ways, aside from being shorter.As with the sedan, a a 58kWh Standard Range or 81kWh Long Range pack are confirmed internationally.Want to know what other new models are due in 2026? Check out our rolling coverage by clicking on the links below. Best EVs Australia 2026Best Ute Australia 2026Best 4x4 Australia 2026Best New Cars 2026 AustraliaBest Family Cars Australia 2026Best Hybrid Cars Australia 2026Best SUVs Australia 2026

With most of the production delays from the semi-conductor shortage and COVID-related shutdowns now largely in the rearview mirror, 2024 is set to be a bumper year for new-vehicle activity.

Australians love wagons. But the advent of SUVs and their sheer popularity against waning sedan sales means that wagon numbers, too, have dropped. From nearly 40 different models to choose from a decade ago, today, that number is down to a dozen... and dropping.

Australian roads used to be full of them.Long-gone favourites like the Holden Gemini, Ford Telstar, Mitsubishi Magna and Daihatsu Charade are now just that – memories of a bygone era. May they rust in peace.But not every car was discontinued abroad when they reached the end of the road in Australia. Many kept on selling overseas, and some even still live on today, having evolved as required to keep up with ever-changing consumer demands (and the Grim Reaper at bay).Sure, their styling has changed completely and they’ve been rebranded with cooler names to help keep buyers interested, but they all have one thing in common: a direct link to predecessors that were once part of Australia’s automotive landscape.Like some celebrity or outlaw who faked their demise or disappeared into a witness protection program, we expose their lives today. Same lineage. Different design and name. You’re bound to be surprised. Toyota has recently unveiled four completely different looking vehicles under the Crown name for global consumption which, unfortunately, does not include Australia.While there’s a striking fastback sedan, wagon and SUV, it’s the oddball crossover-style all-wheel-drive sedan version created expressly for the North American market that we’re focusing on, since it directly replaces the Avalon over there.Now, over 15 generations since 1955, the Crown has been a flagship Toyota sedan, its innate conservatism underlined by traditional three-box styling and rear-wheel-drive engineering. Australians had a taste from 1963 to 1987.However, the Crown crossover sedan is different, as it adopts a variation of the Toyota New Global Architecture ‘K’ (TNGA-K), as found in the transverse-engined/front-drive-based Camry, Kluger and scores of other models worldwide.That also includes the 2018-2022 Avalon, the final of five generations of Camry-derived Avalons built in and for America. The 1994 original was later made and sold in Australia from 2000 to 2006 after the US plant moved on to the second-gen Avalon in 1999. Unsurprisingly, a sloppy-seconds sedan from the States failed to entice us away from the hot VT/VX Commodore or AU/BA Falcon, though.So… the new, 2023 Crown crossover sedan for America directly continues the Avalon line and positioning as a jumped-up Camry, albeit in a swish, high-riding body and wearing a noble old badge – one not seen in the US in half a century.As a footnote, American left-hand-drive (LHD)-only production precluded the Avalon from being sold in Australia beyond the first series, but as the Crown crossover sedan will be made in Japan, there’s one fewer hurdle to stop an Avalon revival Down Under… but sorry taxi operators, this is highly unlikely to happen. Hyundai debuted in Australia with the pretty, Giugiaro-penned X1 Excel in 1986, but it was the on-point X3 Excel of 1994 that caught Australian light-car buyers’ imagination, often cracking a top-three sales position. They were literally everywhere.Though highly publicised quality glitches and endless discounting prompted the Australian importer to switch to the X3’s global ‘Accent’ name for the redesign in 2000 (LC series), two more generations followed, in 2006 (MC) and 2011 (RB). The latter proved successful later in life, trading on low prices and larger-car packaging.However, the 2017 HC Accent was created primarily for the Americas, China and Eastern Europe, prompting Hyundai to make it LHD-only, precluding Australia. Instead, the South Korean plant that supplied our market switched to the Venue light SUV, and by 2019 stocks of the old RB Accent dried up.Fun fact: Accent is reportedly an acronym, for ‘Advanced Compact Car of Epoch-making New Technology’. The Captiva now represents something of a pariah for Holden loyalists and with good reason, due to poor reliability and iffy quality that tarnished the brand’s reputation, perhaps even irreparably.However, affordable pricing and family-friendly packaging did help propel the South Korean medium-to-large SUV to consistent sales success during much of its considerable lifespan, so there’s no arguing that it also helped keep Holden afloat during hugely turbulent times.As it turns out, the Captiva – which was offered as both a short-body five-seater and long-body 5/7-seater wagon – was set to be replaced by a trio of Chevrolet and GMC-based SUVs.Holden released the Equinox and Acadia in 2017 and 2018 respectively, but the Blazer that was slated to sit in between as the main event never eventuated, since GM pulled the plug on Holden in early 2020.The Blazer now represents Holden’s lost opportunity, being everything its Captiva predecessor was not: Camaro muscle-car-inspired styling, a dynamic chassis and just-right sizing. Of all the what-might-have-been Holdens, this is surely one of the most heartbreaking for not having been given a chance to fly.In 2024, the Blazer will morph into an all-new EV. Would it have been Holden’s first full electric car? The Territory is now steeped in Australian motoring folklore, championed by a visionary leader (the late Geoff Polites), funded extensively through the sale of large swathes of land around Ford Australia’s Melbourne headquarters, lauded as one of the world’s best SUVs at the time, prolonging local production and ending up as Australia’s only-ever truly indigenous SUV.With such accolades, it’s no surprise that the Australian team was reportedly later developing an all-new large-car architecture for the 2010s that was going to replace the Falcon, Mustang and a host of other Ford and Lincolns globally.But the project was pulled and the design and engineering of the T6 truck platform was taken on instead, leading on to the wildly successful Ranger.However, eventually, that large-vehicle architecture surfaced underneath what might have been the Territory’s direct replacement, the sixth-generation (U625) Explorer of 2020. Along with broadly similar proportions and packaging, the big SUV features rear-wheel as well as all-wheel drive configurations, mirroring its legendary Aussie cousin of two decades prior.Ironically, the thing that helped prove fatal to Territory all those years ago keeps the Explorer from being sold in Australia: Ford did not develop it for the steering wheel to be offered on either side of the vehicle. Or, in other words, it's LHD-only.Needless to say, from Byron to Broome, SUV-mad buyers would be queueing up for the American Territory by any other name. Pity. Released locally at the dawn of the SUV craze in 1997, the original, J100 Daihatsu Terios was civilised enough for urban buyers with its monocoque construction and car-like interior, yet provided some off-road capability, with high ground clearance, live rear axle, 4WD and a lockable centre diff.It also foresaw the rise of the light SUV, but the series’ potential was cut short in Australia when controlling shareholder Toyota pulled the pin on Daihatsu in 2005.Sadly, we thus missed out on the chunky J200 Terios of 2006, which improved the design and proportions, looking more like a scaled-down RAV4 of the time. That ran until 2018, and was replaced by 2020 in many overseas markets by the A200 Rocky.We’ve said this before here, but the latest Rocky and its Toyota Raize twin are exactly what Australian new-car buyers need right now, with their compact, city-friendly dimensions and affordable pricing.The Rocky name, by the name, was used by the original Terios’ predecessor of the 1980s, but that was a properly tough ladder-frame-chassis 4x4 rival to the Suzuki Sierra.

Truly Australian car brands – as in brands that mass manufactured cars locally, regardless of the origin of their overseas parent companies, became a thing of the past in 2017.

Australia’s love affair with Mazda is so passionate, and so unique, that even the car company itself can’t really explain it. Nowhere in the known universe is Mazda quite as popular, or as successful, per capita, as it is in this country, and in the most recent sales charts, it maintained its place as our second most popular brand, after mega-global giant Toyota. In the US, Mazda didn’t have a single car in the top-10 selling vehicles in 2018, globally it is ranked 16th in production numbers, behind every other Japanese brand, including Suzuki, and in Japan itself it came in sixth in sales last year.But in Australia, we can’t get enough of them, so obviously there’s a lot of excitement about what new Mazda cars are on the way, what new Mazda sports car might be in the offing and which of Mazda’s latest models are about to updated. Here, then, for those many new Mazda fans out there, is a complete list of what’s out there in 2019 and what’s coming up for the future.New Mazda uteWhile its twin-under-the-skin, the Ford Ranger, is kicking sales goals, Mazda’s slightly lumpen-looking BT-50 has been one of the brand’s slightly less-stellar offerings.Mazda gave the BT-50 an Australian-designed facelift in 2018, which brought a squarer bumper and made it slightly less disturbing to look at.For now, though, ute buyers will have to either put up with the current look, go and buy a Ranger or wait for the new BT-50, which is around two years away.Mazda Australia says the design for the new car is already locked in and that it’s “very happy” with the way it’s looking, so you can bet it will be quite different to the current one.While today’s BT-50 is a joint venture with Ford, its replacement will be something new as it’s a co-development with Isuzu and will share its architecture with the rugged and reliable D-MAX ute. We can expect to see the new vehicle in around 2021, and Mazda Australia managing director, Vinesh Bhindi, knows just how vital its success will be. For Toyota and Ford, utes are their biggest sellers in Australia, while for Mazda it’s still very much the 3, so a successful BT-50 replacement could push Mazda even further up the sales charts.“For Mazda Australia the BT-50 is critical,” Bhindi says. “Our focus will be private buyers even for the ute.”New Mazda SUVYou might not be able to see much space between a Mazda CX-3 and a CX-5, but perhaps you’re just not looking hard enough, because Mazda has found a gap in there, which it’s going to plug with a Goldilocks model known as the CX-30, which will arrive in Australia later this year.The CX-30 is longer and wider than a CX-3 (4395mm and and 1795mm versus 4275mm and 1765mm), yet smaller than the CX-5, which measures 4545mm in length and 1840mm in width.The big news, particularly for young parents who love the CX-3’s styling but wish it could fit a standard pram in the boot is that the CX-30 can do just that, with 430 litres of luggage space, up from just 264 in the CX-3.Engine offerings should include the Skyactiv G 2.0-litre petrol and the exciting new Skactiv X petrol engine.New Mazda sports carSome brands need halo model, and some brands, like Mazda, already have one, like the MX-5, which is arguably the most successful, and widely loved, sports car the world has ever seen. Speculation that there would be a new Mazda RX-7 or RX-8, or some other new Mazda rotary, to cash in on those glorious cars of yore with their screaming rev limits has been quashed of late, with Mazda repeatedly saying no such vehicle is in planning, nor required.The company is not giving up on the Wankel rotary technology it did so much to make famous, however, and says that it will form part of a special range-extender platform, basically a rotary hybrid.The “flexible rotary hybrid platform”, which combines a rotary-based range extender with a battery-powered EV driveline, is tipped to be so fuel efficient that it will help Mazda to compete even in countries with the stricter emissions requirements. At this stage, the rotary project is called XEV, and Mazda spokes people have said that it will come to Australia, at some point.New Mazda 2One of the best little city cars around, and one of the best looking, the current Mazda 2, which dates back to 2015, still looks fresh and isn’t due for replacement until 2021, so you won’t find too many run-out deals on it yet at your local dealership if you’re keen to buy one.It may not end up being a new version of itself, of course, because if the current trend for making SUVs out of every single segment on the market continues, the 2 might morph into something else entirely.Indeed, Mazda has hinted that it is watching trends to see just what shape the next 2 might be, and that it could become a very small SUV indeed, slotting in under the CX-3, rather than its current, traditional hatchback shape.Watch out, then, for the CX-2 to show its face on a motor show concept stand in the next couple of years.New Mazda 3New cars don’t get much more important for a brand than the 3 is for Mazda. While many buyers are moving away from traditional hatches and small sedans - and the new 3 offers both - the Mazda 3 somehow maintains its popularity.The new, and truly wonderful looking version, will do nothing to hurt those sales numbers and should instead give them a boost, with its improved interior, lower levels of NVH and the arrival of the epoch-shifting Skactiv X petrol engine.The new 3 also sets the benchmark for safety in this category, as you can read here.New Mazda 6Those rare families who aren’t tempted by the lure of a new SUV would find the Mazda 6 sedan and wagon hard to go past. Indeed, its appeal is such that Mazda was still tipping the 6 to sell 3700 units over its first 12 months when the latest facelift arrived, in May last year.The big change for that update was the addition of turbocharged variants, to add some spice to the range.There were also structural changes made to the 6 to help reduce noise and improve comfort, including thicker floor panels. Cosmetic changes included a new grille and headlights, and 17 or 19-inch wheels.There was also a bit of love shown to the interior, with comfier seats, a new dash and an Active Driving Display (a head-up display, in other words).Once again, in a shrinking market place, the future of the 6 is hard to deduce, but for now it’s a family car with a low centre of gravity that’s well worth considering.New Mazda CX-3A new, or at least updated, Mazda CX-3 was launched to an already adoring public late last year, with the 2019 modeller upgrade including minor cosmetic tweaks, a nicer interior and some engine fettling. The original CX-3 was only launched in 2015, and yet it feels like it’s been a feature on our roads for longer, so enthusiastically have Australians taken to it.The interior is noticeable better and has more oddment storage, thanks to Mazda’s decision to replace the old-school hand brake with an electronic one. You can read all about it here.New Mazda CX-5It’s hard to overstate just what an enormous success the CX-5 has been in Australia. It’s been our number-one selling SUV for the past seven years, which is pretty impressive when you consider that it’s a mid-sizer and not particularly off-road capable. What it is, however, is pretty much the perfect sized family car for city dwellers, and attractive and good to drive to boot.It is, for now, still behind the 3 on Mazda’s own sales charts, but even with the arrival of the sexy new version of that car, Mazda is tipping that the CX-5 will become the brand’s top seller over the next year or two.The CX-5 was most recently updated in May, 2018, with Mazda adding cylinder-deactivation technology and slashing prices across the range. You can read all about it here.New Mazda CX-6Yes, there does seem to be one more gap in the Mazda line-up that could be filled by yet another sleek SUV, and that would be the CX-6, tipped to arrive around 2021.Destined to sit between the big-selling CX-5 and the twin-sister CX-8 and CX-9, the CX-6 would be a coupe-styled SUV, following in the footsteps of some very popular efforts from the European SUV makers (think BMW X4 for example).Sure enough, speculation has it that this will be a more premium model with smooth and futuristic lines. As the so-called CX-6 will be aimed at the premium end of the market, it will likely be powered by a the 2.5-litre four-cylinder turbocharged petrol engine from the CX-9 large SUV and Mazda6 mid-size sedan.New Mazda CX-8Yes, the CX-8 does sit very close to the CX-9 in the Mazda range, but that doesn’t mean it’s not unique, and clever. Initially a Japan-only model, Mazda Australia begged to bring it here, and managed to do so in June last year. It has the long wheelbase and the seven-seat layout of the CX-9, but also the narrower width dimensions of a CX-5, making it just that bit easier to park. It also looks different, not a lot, but enough, with the headlights from the CX-9 and the taillights from the CX-5.The idea seems to be to give Mazda a foot in both the mid-size and large SUV camps at the same time, for those people who aren’t quite sure which they want to go, and end up coming down right in the middle.You can read all about it here.New Mazda CX-9The big daddy of the Mazda range, the CX-9 has won many plaudits, and plenty of fans, for is stylish design, driveability, clever use of space and the fact that it’s a seven-seat SUV you might actually desire to own.Most recently updated in September last year - with new tech, better safety, improved handling and a touch of interior classiness - the CX-9 also bumped up its price slightly.You can read about the updated versions here.New Mazda MX-5The car that puts the Zoom Zoom in Mazda, the MX-5 is a sporty, two-door roadster that puts a smile on the face of anyone who drives it. Enormously successful and seemingly getting both better looking, and better to drive, with each new generation, Mazda recently celebrated the 30th anniversary of the MX-5 with a special edition in bright Racing Orange.Just 3000 examples of the 30th Anniversary edition will be sold worldwide, with a choice of either soft-top or hard-top, and such is the love for this car that you can bet they’ll all become collector’s items.

The Australian new-vehicle market declined yet again in January, with sales decreasing by 7.4 per cent over the same month last year, according to VFACTS sales data released today.