MAY 2026 new car sales: Tesla Model Y claims top spot while Chinese-brand sales surge hitting Toyota and Ford

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It’s not just the global political landscape that is rapidly evolving – the Australian new-car market is undergoing a metamorphosis. 

Electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids, mostly from Chinese brands, are eating into established car makers’ volume and market share.

Underscoring the abrupt shift in buyer focus is May’s number one vehicle – the Chinese-made Tesla Model Y EV, smashing allcomers with its 5605 sales tally while posting a year-to-date gain of nearly 77 percent!

Ford’s ever-popular Ranger held strong, down only six percent compared to May 2025. Its ute rivals including the new Hilux (down 19% compared to the previous year) and Isuzu D-Max (down 28%) suffered big hits, just like the Mazda BT-50 (down 27%) and Volkswagen Amarok (down 49%).

BYD had a massive month, clocking 8211 sales to claim second spot, with Australia’s long-time silver medallist (Mazda) relegated to sixth (and 5.7 percent market share).

This success was across-the-board, including the Sealion 7 (1528 sales), Shark 6 (1244), Sealion 8 (928), Sealion 6 (802), Atto 2 (778), Atto 1 (768), Atto 3 (627), Sealion 5 (583) and Seal sedan (581).

Chery had big wins with the Tiggo 4 small SUV (2123 sales) and Tiggo 7 medium SUV (1202, with sales up 200% year-to-date) while sister brand Jaecoo scored a surprise Top 10 spot with the new J5 small SUV (2171 sales).

Geely wasn’t far behind with its EX5 electric medium SUV (1814 sales), while GWM-Haval’s ageing Jolion managed 1674 sales. Another Chinese-brand highlight was the in-demand Zeekr 7X, with 966 sales.

As for the year-to-date deliveries for legacy manufacturers, news isn’t good. Toyota’s tally to the end of May is just 76,017 (compared to 100,753 the year before – down 25%), though Toyota is expecting a huge second half of 2026, given its annual volume prediction of 220,000 units.

Mazda is currently at 33,224 sales year-to-date (down 16%), placing it marginally behind BYD (33,454 sales – up 120%), while Nissan has managed just 11,517 sales so far in 2026 (down 33%).

Other Japanese stalwarts include Mitsubishi (20,652 units – down 26%), Subaru (11,915 units – down 22%), Lexus (4932 units – down 17%) and Suzuki (5452 units – down 22%), though Isuzu Ute (16,263 units – down 3%) and Honda (6609 units – up 1%) remained steady in an overall market down 2.2 percent.

Comparatively, the two big Korean brands have fared well, thanks to their hybrid- and EV-heavy model ranges. 

Hyundai sales are up five percent to 32,110 units year-to-date – carried by the Kona and Tucson – while Kia is sitting at 33,841 sales (up 2.7%) for second place YTD with 7.1 percent market share. Its star performer in May was the Sportage (1797 sales).

TOP 10 MODELS IN AUSTRALIA – MAY 2026

Rank	Make Model	Total sales	Difference to May ’25
1	Tesla Model Y	5605	Up 57%
2	Ford Ranger	4474	Down 6%
3	Toyota Hilux	4005	Down 19%
4	Toyota RAV4	3865	Down 3%
5	Hyundai Kona	2291	Up 17%
6	Hyundai Tucson	2287	Up 28%
7	Jaecoo J5	2171	N / A
8	Chery Tiggo 4	2123	Up 23%
9	Isuzu D-Max	1916	Down 28%
10	Ford Everest	1876	Down 21%

TOP 10 MANUFACTURERS IN AUSTRALIA – MAY 2026 

Rank	Brand	Total sales
1	Toyota	16,342
2	BYD	8211
3	Ford	7195
4	Hyundai	7007
5	Kia	6761
6	Mazda	5698
7	GWM	4660
8	Chery	4401
9	MG	3872
10	Mitsubishi	3307