China overtakes Japan as market leader

Last month China became Australia’s largest source of cars for the first time, squeezing out the Japanese.

Japan had been Australia’s leading source of vehicles since 1998, according to figures released by the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI).

In February 2026, 22,362 vehicles sourced from China were sold in Australia, surpassing Japan (21,671), Thailand (19,493) and South Korea (11,913).

Australia’s new vehicle market recorded 90,712 sales in February, a decrease of 4,281 vehicles or 4.5 per cent compared with February last year.

FCAI’s Tony Mr Weber said after 28 years, Japan has been overtaken by China as the largest source of vehicles for the Australian market in a single month.

To give this some perspective, 10 new brands have entered the Australian market since 2010 — six of these in the past two years.

Nine of the 10 new entrants are made in China.

“The Australian market is one of the most open and competitive in the world. New brands can enter, establish dealer networks and compete on price, technology and design. Consumers are the beneficiaries of that competition,” Mr Weber said.

But for every winner there’s a loser and some marques finished 2025 in the doghouse.

Some including Citroen paid the ultimate price and we won’t be seeing them again anytime soon.

Other notable failures included Jeep which finished the year a whopping 34 per cent down (quick, where’d you put that diesel?).

Jaguar was not far behind with a 30 per cent loss (the transition isn’t going well), Peugeot with 29 per cent (price the thing), Suzuki 28 per cent (still playing catchup) and Porsche 27 per cent (wireless charging could fix that).

As the market continues to evolve with the arrival of new Chinese brands, we are also likely to lose some of these brands — because, well, business is business.

Last year’s movers and shakers included Leapmotor which posted a massive 906 percent increase in sales, Chery with 177 per cent and BYD with 156 per cent — all Chinese and all getting better by the model.

Battery electric vehicles accounted for 11.8 per cent of total sales from all sources in February, representing a record high monthly share.

Toyota was the market leader in February with sales of 13,606 during February, followed by Mazda (7042), Ford (6907), Kia (6710) and Hyundai (6266).

Pre-loved: Hyundai Elantra 2011-2020

The top models were the Ford Ranger (4325) Toyota HiLux (3625), Chery Tiggo 4 Pro (2,315) Mazda CX-5 (2099) and Isuzu Ute D-Max (2092).

Sales in the Australian Capital Territory fell 18.7 per cent to 1187; NSW declined 7.6 per cent to 27,524; Northern Territory decreased 15.8 per cent to 727; Queensland fell 2.8 per cent to 19,644; South Australia declined 8.7 per cent to 5673; Tasmania fell 6.4 per cent to 1384; Victoria remained steady at 24,732; and Western Australia declined 3.9 per cent to 9841.

Watch this space for further developments.