VFACTS October 2025 new car sales: Chinese brands, hybrids continue to grow

It was a tight race for first place in Australia’s new car market last month, when the Ford Ranger and Toyota RAV4 were separated by just one sale and the Toyota HiLux narrowly pushed past both of them for the top spot.

A total of 100,658 new vehicles were delivered in October 2025, up 0.7 per cent on the same month last year, according to data from the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) and the Electric Vehicle Council.

Naturally, Toyota was far and away the best-selling brand, with a 19.6 per cent share of the market. It also enjoyed growth in a month when many major brands posted significant declines.

Australia’s new-car market is becoming increasingly electrified, with hybrids, plug-in hybrids (PHEVs) and electric vehicles (EVs) accounting for nearly 30 per cent of the market.

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Of these, hybrids – a Toyota forte – were the most popular, accounting for 17.6 per cent of the total market or 17,751 sales – up 25.2 per cent on October 2024.

EVs were up by 14.8 per cent for a total of 7361 sales, a 7.3 per cent share of the market, while PHEVs were up 95 per cent to 4724 sales and had a 4.7 per cent share.

“The October results confirm that Australians are increasingly choosing hybrid and PHEV models as a practical path towards lower emissions,” said FCAI executive Tony Weber.

“Hybrids are delivering strong growth right across the market, while PHEVs are also gaining momentum. Petrol-only vehicles, on the other hand, continue to lose ground. These shifts underline the pace of change in consumer preferences.”

China is bearing down on Thailand as the second largest supplier of new vehicles to our market, with 20,405 Chinese-built vehicles reaching buyers in October against 20,811 Thai-built vehicles. Japan remained in the lead with 27,716 sales.

Sales of Chinese-built cars were up 32.5 per cent compared with last October, while sales of Japanese, Thai and Korean-built cars declined.

Around a quarter of the market consists of mid-size SUVs, led by the Toyota RAV4. SUVs in total held over 60 per cent of the market, a share more than five times greater than that of passenger cars.

Brands

Four Chinese brands finished in the top 10 again: GWM, BYD, MG and Chery, in seventh to 10th position respectively.

They kept Isuzu Ute tantalisingly close to a top-10 position, with Chery delivering 3550 vehicles against Isuzu Ute’s 3354.

Toyota held onto the top spot as usual with 19,726 deliveries, up 6.8 per cent thanks to double-digit year-over-year increases for its Camry, Fortuner and Yaris. These helped offset double-digit declines for the Corolla, Kluger and LandCruiser 70 Series.

Ford sat in second with 7570 deliveries, down 11.8 per cent. While the Everest trounced the Toyota Prado, with almost 1000 additional sales recorded, it was down 8.7 per cent.

The Blue Oval was also hindered by a 95.5 per cent drop in Mustang sales, while it didn’t deliver any F-150s due to a stop-sale. The main bright spot for Ford was the Transit Custom, up 9.2 per cent year-on-year.

Mazda rounded out the podium with 7140 deliveries, down 6.7 per cent.

Kia sat ahead of sister brand Hyundai in fourth position, though its sales were essentially flat compared to last October, even with the availability of its first dual-cab ute.

Hyundai, in contrast, was down by almost 10 per cent with double-digit year-over-year declines for popular models like the i30, Santa Fe, Tucson and Venue.

Mitsubishi had a worse month, however. Its sales were down 15.7 per cent to 4714; GWM was in striking distance with 4431 deliveries. The Japanese brand was hurt by the changeover to a new generation of ASX and dwindling stocks of the Eclipse Cross, though strong Triton sales saw the ute get ever closer to besting the Isuzu D-Max once again.

October was a month of major declines from major brands. MG still sat in the top 10, but its sales were down 31.7 per cent, despite its model range more than doubling in size.

The HS was down by 53.3 per cent, the MG 3 by 38.9 per cent, the MG 5 by 59.1 per cent, and the MG 4 by a whopping 92.9 per cent. While MG has launched new models like the QS large SUV, and electric models like the S5, IM5 and IM6, they’re not yet selling in high enough volumes to offset drops among the brand’s core vehicles.

Nissan was down 26 per cent and sat in 16th place. A 17.7 per cent increase in X-Trail sales wasn’t enough to offset continued decline for the outgoing Navara.

Volkswagen was down by 27 per cent to 2394 deliveries despite a raft of new product, though in good news for Volkswagen Group Australia its Skoda sister brand – also boasting fresh product – was up by 53.3 per cent, if from a lower base, to 515 units. Audi and Cupra were also up, by 28.5 per cent and 23.3 per cent, respectively.

Other mass-market brands posting significant declines were Suzuki, down 31.8 per cent due to double-digit declines across its lineup; Tesla, which was down 37.4 per cent due to slumping Model 3 sales that saw the electric sedan outsold by the BMW 3 Series; and Jeep, which was down by 60.8 per cent.

Models

The Toyota HiLux held the top spot with 4444 deliveries, while the Ford Ranger pipped the Toyota RAV4 by just one unit (4402 vs 4401) for second position.

HiLux 4×2 sales declines by 21.1 per cent but they still helped it beat the Ranger overall; Ranger 4×2 sales were down by 28.1 per cent, and were bested by the Isuzu D-Max, Mazda BT-50 and Mitsubishi Triton.

The Ford Everest outsold the Toyota Prado by almost 1000 units, while the margin between the Hyundai Kona and Chery Tiggo 4 (2057 vs 1975) was much closer but enough to see the Korean retain the title of best-selling small SUV.

The Prado narrowly missed out on being Australia’s third best-selling large SUV, as its 1458 deliveries were identical to that of the Isuzu MU-X.

The Tesla Model Y was nowhere to be seen in the top 20, though its BYD Sealion 7 arch-rival was (1341 vs 735 deliveries).

Segments

• Micro cars: Kia Picanto (533), Fiat/Abarth 500 (29)
• Light cars under $30,000: MG 3 (562), Mazda 2 (317), Toyota Yaris (239)
• Light cars over $30,000: Mini Cooper (207), Volkswagen Polo (85), Hyundai i20 (67)
• Small cars under $45,000: Toyota Corolla (1432), Hyundai i30 (898), Mazda 3 (711)
• Small cars over $45,000: Audi A3 (268), Mercedes-Benz A-Class (264), Volkswagen Golf (230)
• Medium cars under $60,000: Toyota Camry (1027), BYD Seal (259), Skoda Octavia (60)
• Medium cars over $60,000: BMW 3 Series (191), Tesla Model 3 (181), Audi A5 (152)
• Large cars under $70,000: Skoda Superb (8)
• Large cars over $70,000: BMW i5 (87), MG IM5 (47), Mercedes-Benz E-Class (44)
• Upper large cars: Mercedes-Benz S-Class (10), Porsche Panamera (7), BMW i7 (5)
• People movers under $70,000: Kia Carnival (948), Ford Tourneo (73), Hyundai Staria (70)
• People movers over $70,000: Volkswagen ID. Buzz (48), Volkswagen Multivan (27), Mercedes-Benz V-Class (11)
• Sports cars under $90,000: Mazda MX-5 (71), Toyota GR86 (56), Mini Cabriolet (53)
• Sports cars over $90,000: Mercedes-Benz CLE (89), BMW 2 Series two-door (64), BMW 4 Series two-door (43)
• Sports cars over $200,000: Porsche 911 (80), Ferrari two-door range (14), Lamborghini two-door range (11)

• Light SUVs: Mazda CX-3 (1295), Toyota Yaris Cross (878), Hyundai Venue (609)
• Small SUVs under $45,000: Hyundai Kona (2057), Chery Tiggo 4 (1975), MG ZS (1743)
• Small SUVs over $45,000: Audi Q3 (491), BMW X1 (449), Volkswagen T-Roc (439)
• Medium SUVs under $60,000: Toyota RAV4 (4401), Mazda CX-5 (1813), Mitsubishi Outlander (1689)
• Medium SUVs over $60,000: Tesla Model Y (735), Lexus NX (619), BMW X3 (473)
• Large SUVs under $80,000: Ford Everest (2435), Toyota Prado (1458), Isuzu MU-X (1458)
• Large SUVs over $80,000: BMW X5 (374), Land Rover Defender (346), Mercedes-Benz GLE wagon (206)
• Upper large SUVs under $120,000: Toyota LandCruiser (1138), Nissan Patrol (302), Land Rover Discovery (26)
• Upper large SUVs over $120,000: BMW X7 (149), Lexus GX (139), Mercedes-Benz G-Class (86)

• Small vans: Volkswagen Caddy (73), Renault Kangoo (60), Peugeot Partner (22)
• Medium vans: Toyota HiAce (1039), Ford Transit Custom (368), Hyundai Staria Load (246)
• 4×2 utes: Toyota HiLux (651), Isuzu D-Max (434), Mazda BT-50 (282)
• 4×4 utes: Ford Ranger (4195), Toyota HiLux (3793), Isuzu D-Max (1462)
• Large pickups: Ram 1500 (209), Chevrolet Silverado HD (194), Chevrolet Silverado 1500 (178)

Sales by category

Includes Tesla and Polestar sales.

Top segments by market share

Includes Tesla and Polestar sales.

Sales by region

Excludes Tesla and Polestar sales.

Sales by buyer type

Excludes Tesla, Polestar and heavy commercial sales.

Sales by fuel or propulsion type

Excludes heavy commercial sales.

Sales by country of origin

Includes Tesla and Polestar sales.

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