Hybrids and plug-in hybrids continue to grow in new car sales but the big ute is still king of the Australian car parc.
The latest FCAI figures for June also show that China has notched up more than 100,000 vehicle sales in 2025, a record, and is closing in on Thailand as the second largest country of import.
In other trends the number of new EV’s continued to slip with only 31,826 sold in 2025, less than half the number of hybrids and 36 per cent down on 2024. The FCAI figures do not include Tesla or Polestar models.
Hybrids were up 14.9 per cent on 2024.
The continuing story is the dominance of light commercial vehicles (25.3 per cent of the total market), underscored by sales of the top four utes in June: Ford Ranger (6,293), Toyota HiLux (6,195), Isuzu Ute D-Max (3,119) and BYD Shark 6 (2,993).
Circling the waters
The BYD Shark is the conspicuous standout as a PHEV making up part of the 210 per cent increase in their sales since 2024.
“With each month, you can see just how popular BYD vehicles are becoming in Australia because you can see them on our roads,” BYD Australia COO Stephen Collins said.
“As we continue the transition to a fully-factory backed operation, we commend the foundation laid by our distribution partners as we strive to ensure this strong growth continues.”
“We set out to bring affordable, world-class EVs to Australians and grow the BYD brand as fast as possible,” EVDirect CEO Luke Todd said. “What we’ve achieved in just a few short years is remarkable, and now, as we hand over to BYD directly, we’re confident the momentum will only accelerate from here.”
Continued popularity
New vehicle sales across Australia totalled 122,509 units in June 2025, marking a 2.4 per cent increase over the same month in 2024.
Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries chief executive Tony Weber says the result highlighted the continued popularity of dual-cab utes
“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,” Weber said.
Passenger cars, such as sedans and hatchbacks, continued their decline, with sales down 27.9 per cent year-on-year to 15,190 units in June, now representing just 12.4 per cent of the total market.
EVs flat
The proportion of electric vehicle sales, while stronger in June, year to date made up 7.7 per of total sales from all sources, compared with 8.0 per cent in 2024 and 7.4 per cent in 2023.
This is despite there being more than 100 EV models on the market, the FCAI said.
Toyota was the market leader with sales of 20,225 during June, followed by Ford (10,103), Mazda (9,405), Hyundai (8,407) and BYD (8,156).