Sales of Chinese brand vehicles in Australia, plus Tesla, with brand rank, for the month of September and also YTD:
September:
MG: 3841 sales, #8, down 29%
GWM: 3802 sales, #9, up 31%
Tesla: 2649 sales, #13, down 49%
BYD: 1826 sales, #15, up 160%
Chery: 1268 sales, #18, up 103%
LDV: 1104 sales, #19, down 34%
YTD:
MG: 36,096 sales, #8, down 16%
GWM: 31,793 sales, #10, up 23%
Tesla: 30,750 sales, #12, down 19%
BYD: 15,181 sales, #16, up 74%
LDV: 12,499 sales, #18, down 22%
Chery: 7508 sales, #22, up 106%*
* This growth percentage is artificially inflated as Chery was not present in Australia in Q1 2023.
Despite the mixed bag of results here, I think it is worth noting that there are now two Chinese brands in Australia's Top 10 on both a monthly and YTD basis, something that would've been unthinkable even five years ago.
MG's sales drop can be attributed chiefly to both increased competition from GWM and Chery, and also a changeover period for several of its leading models, such as the new MG3 which has been reasonably
but also comes with a price increase, which is significant for a brand that to date has largely sold on price. MG has recently floated the idea of bringing in a
, which is noteworthy because it would blur the lines between MG and LDV in Australia, where both are SAIC brands, the latter operating via a third-party distributor. Tesla is evidently struggling this year, but deliveries to Australia remain highly variable month-to-month so I wouldn't put too much weight on the September figure specifically.
BYD is clearly having a good year, and that has been turbocharged
. SL6 is BYD's first PHEV here and has become both the brand's #1 model locally as well as the best-selling PHEV in the country, ahead of Mitsubishi Outlander, though the latter remains
courtesy of a six month head start. BYD will be hoping that its PHEV success continues with Shark from early 2025.