RAV4 regains lead in record July

DESPITE a July result that left it six per cent down on the same month last year and 19 per cent behind year to date, Toyota has retained leadership of the Australian new-vehicle market as Chinese challenger BYD and a resurgent Tesla helped push battery electric vehicles beyond one in five sales for the second month running.

 

VFACTS data from the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries, supplemented by Electric Vehicle Council figures, show 108,577 new vehicles were sold during July, up 4.2 per cent on the same month last year and the strongest July on record.

 

It follows an all-time monthly record in June and leaves the market on 740,160 sales YTD, 1.6 per cent ahead of the same point in 2025.

 

Toyota remained comfortably Australia’s largest-selling brand, moving 20,409 vehicles during the month, aided by the RAV4 regaining its lead on the national sales charts with 5564 deliveries – aided by improved supply – ahead of the Toyota HiLux on 4721 and the Tesla Model Y on 4644.

 

Pressure remains on Australia’s long-time unassailable automotive table-topper, with 115,550 Toyotas delivered YTD against 142,700 at the same point last year in a market that has grown 1.6 per cent.

 

While Toyota remains well clear of the field overall, its market share has been mostly eroded by brands majoring on battery electric and plug-in hybrid models.

 

BYD recorded another standout month, selling 7857 vehicles to hold second place among Australia’s best-selling brands, up 70.5 per cent on July last year. Year-to-date the Chinese manufacturer has sold 60,192 vehicles against 27,962 at the same stage in 2025, more than twice its previous volume.

 

Tesla returned 4778 sales to finish seventh, its strongest July since 2022. The Model Y accounted for much of this volume with 2429 deliveries of the new long-wheelbase Y L variant outstripping the 2215 standard Model Ys sold.

 

On its own, the Model Y L would have been the fifth best-selling vehicle in the country during its first month on sale.

 

The other brand reporting through the EVC rather than VFACTS, Polestar, sold 143 vehicles, down from 230 a year ago.

 

Polestar Australia managing director Scott Maynard said interest in premium electric vehicles remained high and that demand had held up after the end-of-financial-year selling period, although the brand’s own July volume was down 37.8 per cent.

 

Combined, Polestar and Tesla notched up 4921 sales, or 20.9 per cent of the 23,510 battery electric vehicles delivered last month, which in turn represented 21.7 per cent of the market. 

 

It was down on June’s record 23.3 per cent but marked the second consecutive month in which battery electric vehicles have accounted for more than one in every five new vehicles sold.

 

Australia’s fuel type preferences continue to evolve in the wake of oil supply restrictions and price increases precipitated by the US-Israeli strikes on Iran that began earlier this year.

 

Petrol models led with 27,894 sales in July and diesels followed on 24,773, but battery electric vehicles finished within 1263 sales of diesel and 4384 of petrol, having outsold diesel outright for the first time in June.

 

Sales of plug-in hybrids more than doubled year-on-year to 10,359 units in July and conventional hybrids remained steady – and now behind BEVs – at 18,684.

 

Combined battery electric and plug-in hybrid vehicle volume was 33,869 units last month, or 31.2 per cent of the market, comfortably more than petrol and almost exactly three times the 11,250 sold in July last year.

 

The Electric Vehicle Council described this result as a record 32.2 per cent, calculated against passenger, SUV and light commercial sales but excluding the 3357 heavy commercials sold during July.

 

Electric Vehicle Council chief executive Julie Delvecchio said July sales had run ahead of the council’s own expectations following the June sell-down.

 

“After a record end-of-financial-year month in June, we expected softer numbers in July,” Ms Delvecchio said.

 

“But the underlying trend remains clear: EV sales are well ahead of last year and choice is expanding across all car types and price points.”

 

Year-to-date, Australians have bought 127,226 battery electric vehicles, equivalent to 17.2 per cent of the new-vehicle market (17.7 per cent on the EVC’s narrower base) and more than double the 54,364 recorded over the same seven months of 2025.

 

The EVC estimates the national electric vehicle fleet at about 650,000 vehicles, or roughly three per cent of cars on Australian roads.

 

FCAI chief executive Tony Weber said the record result reflected strong consumer demand despite ongoing economic pressures.

 

“July was another outstanding month for Australian new-vehicle sales and delivered the best July result on record,” he said.

 

However, Mr Weber said Australia’s charging network would need to expand rapidly if electric vehicle sales continued at their current pace.

 

“There is a risk that the rapid increase in electric vehicle uptake in 2026 will outpace the supply of public charging infrastructure,” he said.

 

Behind Toyota and BYD, Kia (6553), Mazda (6458), Ford (6400) and Hyundai (5991) completed the top six, although all four went backwards by double digits against the same month last year. Tesla’s 4778 sales placed it seventh.

 

Chinese-headquartered brands sold 32,043 vehicles between them, 29.5 per cent of the market and up from 17,798 units and 17.1 per cent a year earlier, a share bettered only by June’s 32.3 per cent.

 

Winners included Chery and MG, which respectively grew 46.6 and 42.4 per cent to 4615 and 4284, Geely rose 652 per cent to 3685, Omoda Jaecoo 391.9 per cent to 2135 and Zeekr climbed from 72 sales a year ago to 2115.

 

GAC appeared in the monthly figures for the first time with 1008 sales, having launched here last year without reporting to VFACTS, while GWM, the biggest-selling Chinese brand in Australia this time last year, slipped 4.3 per cent to 4518 units and now ranks third among its compatriots.

 

Measured by where vehicles are built rather than where their brands are based, 38,555 of July’s sales were of China-made vehicles or 35.5 per cent of the market against 19.2 per cent a year ago.

 

Behind the RAV4, HiLux and Model Y in the top-selling vehicles charts were the Ford Ranger with 4042 deliveries, the BYD Sealion 7 took fifth on 2548, followed by the Chery Tiggo 4 Pro, Hyundai Kona and Toyota Prado.

 

The Geely EX5 climbed to ninth on 2034, more than four times its July 2025 volume, while the Zeekr 7X entered the top 10 on 1892, having gone on sale after July last year and so carrying no year-on-year comparison.

 

SUVs continued to dominate the market, accounting for 72,409 sales, or 66.7 per cent of the total – the highest share in any month since at least January 2022 – while passenger cars slipped to 12.5 per cent and light commercials to 17.7 per cent, both down on a year ago.

 

Private sales rose 10.2 per cent to 59,412, an increase of 5523 units and more than the market grew in total, while business purchases edged up 1.7 per cent to 38,472, government buying fell 21.4 per cent and rental fleets were down 15.5 per cent.

 

Across states and territories, the ACT recorded the strongest growth at 16.7 per cent and Western Australia the strongest of the larger markets at 10.6 per cent.

 

New South Wales and Victoria, which between them took more than half of all sales, each grew by about six per cent, while the Northern Territory fell 15.7 per cent, South Australia 4.8 per cent and Queensland 0.7 per cent.

 

Top 10 vehicle sales by make (July 2026)*: 

 

Top 10 vehicle sales by model (July 2026)*:

 

State-by-state sales (July 2026)*: 

*All sales data supplied courtesy of the FCAI and the EVC