A sharp sales decline has seen Tesla's Model 3 sedan hand back its lead in the mid-size car category to its long-time former owner, the perennial Toyota Camry.
Electric Cars
The Toyota Camry Hybrid has ended the Tesla Model 3’s three-year winning streak to reclaim its previous title of Australia’s top-selling sedan, mid-size or otherwise.
But sales of both vehicles are down – the Camry by 36 per cent, and the Model 3 by an even more significant 61 per cent – as buyers continue to move from low-slung vehicles into SUVs.
It hands the top spot back to Toyota after deliveries of 10,877 Tesla sedans in 2022 overtook the Camry’s lowest annual sales result on record (9538), amid chronic stock shortages.
The Model 3 extended its lead in 2023 amid a surge in electric-car popularity – at 17,347 vs 10,581 – while the gap narrowed in 2024, with the arrival of a new Camry (15,401 sales) and heavily-updated Model 3 (17,094).
Prior to 2022, the Toyota Camry four-cylinder was Australia’s best-selling 'mid-size car' for 28 years straight, after overtaking the Mitsubishi Magna four-cylinder in 1994, with 28,340 deliveries.
Include V6 versions of each nameplate in the total – which, for much of the past three decades, have been classified by car-industry statisticians as 'large cars', not mid-size – and the Toyota Camry's streak shortens to 24 years.
Sales in the entire mid-size sedan category were down 41.1 per cent last year, with the third-placed BYD Seal down 40.8 per cent, and fourth-placed BMW 3 Series down 24.1 per cent.
While last year's sales result for the Camry is its lowest on record – against only the Model 3's lowest since 2020 – it is a more dire situation for the Tesla, one the brand thinks may not recover.
"The old [model] switched out last year [in 2024]," Tesla Australia country director Thom Drew told Drive in mid-2025.
"If we're looking at year-on-year results, not to use the excuse, but we had a really strong start with deliveries of those [new] vehicles, partially impacted by some issues that we ran into last year [2024].
"There was a homologation concern that delayed deliveries, [such] that we had really big months, bigger than we should have, in that sense – it was contracted.
"So that is having a larger impact on the current results year-on-year. That being said though, demand in that segment, particularly for premium mid-size sedans, has continued to wane."
Drew said Tesla customers appear to be moving into the more spacious Model Y SUV, which grew its deliveries by 7.4 per cent across 2025.
Best-selling mid-size cars in Australia
| Model | 2025 sales | 2024 sales | Change |
| Toyota Camry | 9860 | 15401 | -36.0% |
| Tesla Model 3 | 6617 | 17094 | -61.3% |
| BYD Seal | 3784 | 6393 | -40.8% |
| BMW 3 Series | 1877 | 2472 | -24.1% |
| Mercedes-Benz C-Class | 1425 | 1943 | -26.7% |
| Polestar 4 | 1295 | 183 | 607.7% |
| Lexus ES | 1062 | 1025 | 3.6% |
| Audi A5 | 972 | 383 | 153.8% |
| BMW i4 | 886 | 2062 | -57.0% |
| Mazda 6 | 852 | 1354 | -37.1% |
| Polestar 2 | 746 | 1459 | -48.9% |
| Skoda Octavia | 731 | 846 | -13.6% |
| Mercedes-Benz CLA | 554 | 757 | -26.8% |
| Hyundai Sonata | 375 | 506 | -25.9% |
| Alfa Romeo Giulia | 210 | 190 | 10.5% |
| Hyundai Ioniq 6 | 200 | 374 | -46.5% |
| Honda Accord | 98 | 137 | -28.5% |
| Volvo V60 Cross Country | 95 | 153 | -37.9% |
| Volkswagen Passat | 66 | 103 | -35.9% |
| Genesis G70 | 38 | 45 | -15.6% |
| Volvo S60 | 37 | 153 | -75.8% |
| Audi A4 | 28 | 511 | -94.5% |
| BMW 4 Series Gran Coupe | 20 | 256 | -92.2% |
| Jaguar XE | 3 | 66 | -95.5% |
| Peugeot 508 | 2 | 65 | -96.9% |
| Volkswagen Arteon | 0 | 87 | -100.0% |
Electric Cars Guide
Alex Misoyannis has been writing about cars since 2017, when he started his own website, Redline. He contributed for Drive in 2018, before joining CarAdvice in 2019, becoming a regular contributing journalist within the news team in 2020. Cars have played a central role throughout Alex’s life, from flicking through car magazines at a young age, to growing up around performance vehicles in a car-loving family. Highly Commended - Young Writer of the Year 2024 (Under 30) Rising Star Journalist, 2024 Winner Scoop of The Year - 2024 Winner
