China ramps up Aussie takeover
From your Ford Ranger, Toyota HiLux to Isuzu D-Max and now the BYD Shark 6.
The newly launched dual-cab from Chinese automaker BYD, the Shark has charged into fifth place on the national sales leaderboard for the month of June, outselling hundreds of competitors and closing in on Aussie favourites.
With 2,993 sales in June, the Shark 6 finished just behind the Isuzu D-Max (3,119), the Toyota HiLux (6,195) and Ford Ranger (6,293), according to the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) data released on Thursday.
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2024 BYD Shark 6. Picture: Thomas Wielecki
Light commercial vehicles, like utes, accounted for 25.3 per cent of all new car sales in June.
When the separately released Electric Vehicle Council numbers for June are taken into account, the Shark 6 slips into fifth sales overall across Australia, with the Tesla Model Y recording 3457 sales last month.
FCAI chief executive Tony Weber said the latest figures show the country has an strong appetite for light commercial vehicles, especially utes.
The 2025 Tesla Model Y split up the dominance of the utes. Picture: Mark Bean
'In a market of more than 400 models, the top four utes made up 15.2 per cent of all sales during June. The rest of the top 10 was made up of SUVs and, when combined, models in the top 10 made up 27.2 per cent of all sales,' Mr Weber said.
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TOYOTA REMAINS NO. 1, BYD SURGES
Toyota was the Australian market leader and remained in its number one spot with a total of 20,225 vehicle sales for June 2025, ahead of Ford (10,103), Mazda (9,405), Hyundai (8,407) and BYD, which surged into fifth place with 8,156 vehicles sold across its range.
Year-to-date, BYD moved to 8th place with a total of 23,355 new vehicles sold.
In June alone, Australians bought 122,509 new vehicles, marking a 2.4 per cent increase compared to the same month last year.
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2025 Ford Ranger Raptor. Picture: Supplied
It brings the year-to-date total to more than 608,000, a sign that despite the cost-of-living pressures, the market is holding strong.
However that is down on the 632,412 cars sold in the first half of 2024.
Traditional passenger cars like sedans and hatchbacks continued their slide down 27.9 per cent year-on-year, now making up just 12.4 per cent of the total market.
It's no surprise that SUVs rose to 9.4 per cent, as more Aussies opt for bigger vehicles.
Despite more than 100 electric vehicle (EV) models, EVs accounted for 7.7 per cent of year-to-date sales, this figure is slightly below last year.
Read related topics: China Ties
Danielle Collis
Journalist and Reporter
Danielle's background spans print, radio and television, she has contributed to outlets such as The Age, ABC, Channel Nine and many more. For more than four years, Danielle has worked as Liz Hayes' producer and investigative journalist on her show 'Under Investigation', covering everything from corporate scandals to Australia's most baffling crime cases. Danielle's covered a range of topics from breaking news, politics, lifestyle and now motoring.
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