2023 was a year of both growth and stasis for Chinese brands in Australia. Total vehicles sales grew by 12.5% to set a new record of 1.22 million vehicles sold throughout 2023. Established Chinese brands such as MG, GWM and LDV all shared in this growth but were unable to improve upon their relative brand standings from 2022. Meanwhile, BYD recorded its first full year of sales in Australia, recently adding Dolphin and Seal models to the local lineup to complement Atto 3. Looking ahead, BYD is planning to introduce two PHEV models to its Australian lineup this year: Seal U and the forthcoming ute. Meanwhile Chery arrived here in Q2 with Omoda 5 and recently added its Tiggo 7 Pro to the local lineup.
MG: 58,346 sales (#7, up 18%)
GWM: 36,397 sales (#13, up 45%)
LDV: 21,298 sales (#16, up 31%)
BYD: 12,438 sales (#21, up 489%*)
Chery: 5,890 sales (#29, N/A)
* BYD only launched here in October 2022
In terms of the overall Australian vehicle market, Tesla was undoubtedly the leading success story of 2023, finishing the year in 8th position with 46,116 sales, up 135%. The biggest loser amongst leading brands was Mitsubishi, finishing the year in 6th position with 63,511 sales, down 18%. That said, Mitsubishi may rebound next year as the next-generation of its best-selling vehicle in Australia, the Triton ute, is expected to arrive early in the year.
The colossus of the Australian vehicle market, Toyota, struggled with supply issues in the first half of the year and finished with 215,240 sales, down 7%. Across the first six months, Toyota sales were down nearly 32% compared to the same period in 2022, so that they managed to claw that back to finish the year only 7% down and still more than double the sales of its nearest competitor (Mazda, 100,008 sales, up 4.5%) is impressive and demonstrates that, in the Australian context at least, one should never bet against Big T. I have attached an artist impression of Toyota's position in the Australian vehicle market:
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Nonetheless, Toyota didn't have things all its own way as Ford's new Ranger ute ended the Hilux' 7-year winning streak atop the Australian sales charts, powering the brand to #3 with 87,800 sales, up 32%. Ford has said they intended to bring a PHEV Ranger to Australia by 2025, so BYD may only have a short window of local exclusivity for its PHEV ute. Volkswagen, formerly a Top 10 brand in Australia, also rebounded strongly in 2023 after a couple of very disappointing and supply-constrained years, finishing in 11th position with 43,821 sales, up 41%. In 2024 Volkswagen plans to bring some models of its ID range of electric vehicles to Australia, and it will be interesting to see how those vehicles land.
Source for all numbers cited is Drive's presentation of official VFACTS statistics:
