Year-to-date sales figures reveal that Chinese-built vehicles outnumber any other source for new vehicle supply in Australia.
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China has become the biggest supplier of new cars in Australia’s new car market.
The second-highest supplier by volume is Japan, with 44,614 vehicles, then Thailand in third place with 36,565 units supplied for the Australian market.
Last year’s full-year sales tally saw Chinese-built vehicles account for 252,702 vehicles of the 1,247,037 sold in Australia.
The rise of Chinese-supplied vehicles comes following a 31-per cent rise in supply during 2025, compared to 2024.
At the end of 2025, Chinese production accounted for 20.3 per cent of Australia’s new car tally, while the year-to-date sales split has seen that figure rise to 25.6 per cent of the 181,884 vehicles sold so far.
The growth comes as both new Chinese brands cement a stronger foothold in the Australian market, while established brands, including Hyundai, Kia, and Mazda, have begun sourcing some models from Chinese factories.
Tesla, despite being an American company, also contributes strongly to the Chinese-built figures, with all Australian-delivered vehicles, except the Model Y Performance, shipped from Shanghai.
Tesla’s 3702 Model 3s and Model Ys, join cars like the Kia EV5 (561 units YTD), the Polestar line-up (305 YTD) and newly launched Hyundai Elexio (172 YTD), with Mazda set to launch the Mazda 6e, as another Chinese-built vehicle from a non-Chinese brand.
The first Chinese-branded vehicles – from Great Wall Motors, now GWM – launched in Australia in 2009, followed by brands like Chery, Geely, and Foton, all three of which retreated before relaunching in recent years.
In 2025, three Chinese brands cracked into Australia’s top 10 overall, including GWM in seventh place, BYD in eighth, and MG in tenth place for the full year. GWM and BYD saw sales increase, while MG slipped slightly.
During 2025, brands like Denza, Foton, GAC, Geely, JAC, Omoda-Jaecoo, Zeekr and others either debuted or re-entered the Australian market, pushing up production numbers as they established themselves locally.
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Kez Casey migrated from behind spare parts counters to writing about cars over ten years ago. Raised by a family of automotive workers, Kez grew up in workshops and panel shops before making the switch to reviews and road tests for The Motor Report, Drive and CarAdvice.
