Four Chinese car brands made the Australian top 10 car sales in August for the first time. (Source: AAP/Getty)
Aussies can expect to see a lot more Chinese-made cars hitting the roads. For the first time, four Chinese brands have made it to the top 10 of all sales, with BYD overtaking Mitsubishi after nearly quadrupling sales in the past year.
Aussies bought more than 20,000 Chinese-made vehicles in August, which was a sharp 67 per cent higher than the year prior. This represents nearly a fifth of total vehicles sold in the month, according to fresh figures from the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries.
BYD came in sixth place for the month, while GWM, MG and Chery also made the list. BYD’s ranking was bolstered by the sale of its popular Shark 6 plug-in hybrid ute, which had 1,261 sales and the Sealion 7, which had 1,413 sales.
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Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries chief executive Tony Weber said the figures showed how quickly the industry, along with consumers, were adapting to new options.
“The presence of four Chinese brands in the top ten illustrates the continuing evolution of the automotive landscape in Australia,” Weber said.
“Consumers have an extraordinary range of vehicles to choose from – more than 400 models, including around 100 EVs.”
The BYD Sealion 7 had 1,413 sales in August, FCAI data found. (Source: BYD)
More than half of cars sold had petrol and diesel engines, with data showing 8,234 of the Chinese-made vehicles had petrol engines, 2,286 had diesel.
About 24 per cent of Chinese-made vehicles were fully battery electric at 4,786, which is an increase from 17 per cent a year ago.
The two best-selling cars in Australia were utes, with the Ford Ranger topping the list with 4,942 sales, followed by the Toyota HiLux at 4,823. The Toyota RAV4 rounded out the top three at 4,115.
It’s worth noting the Electric Vehicle Council reports separate sales figures for Tesla and Polestar, with data showing Tesla sales coming in at 2,927 for August.
Here were the top 10 car brands sold in Australia for August:
Toyota 20,791 sales
Ford 8,002 sales
Kia 7,402 sales
Mazda 6,814 sales
Hyundai 6,322 sales
BYD 4,877 sales
Mitsubishi 4,551 sales
GWM 4,488 sales
MG 3,927 sales
Chery 3,305 sales
Chinese brands are expected to make up 43 per cent of cars imported into the country by 2035, according to the Centre for International Economics, up from 17 per cent now.
It’s a stark contrast to just 10 years ago, the analysis found, when almost no cars were imported from China. Instead, Japan had the biggest share of sales in Australia at 29 per cent.
CarExpert.com.au founder Paul Maric told Yahoo Finance this trend is set to change how our roads will look.
“You’re going to have some vehicles that have become so expensive that it’s going to force consumers who may have been wedded to these brands to go, ‘Well, I can save $15,000 by getting a Chinese vehicle that’ll do the same thing as my Japanese car,'” he said.
He added that some manufacturers could be pushed to lower their prices to compete with the huge influx of Chinese-made cars.
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