Ford Australia has topped off its 100 years in Australia celebrations by once again securing the highest selling vehicle in the country, the Ford Ranger. This is the third year in a row that the Ranger has been the bestselling vehicle in Australia and rightly so.
The sales figures achieved (56,555) are a reflection of the many years that Ford has invested into the local development and engineering of the Ranger vehicles. Staff at their Victorian facilities continue to refine this already impressive product and in late 2025 the newest version, the Super Duty, was released for purchase.
At number four on the top selling list was the Ford Everest (26,161) becoming the second most popular SUV overall in Australia behind the Toyota RAV4 (51,947), which was the second highest selling vehicle in Australia for 2025. The Everest is also the top selling vehicle in the SUV Large < $80K segment.
The Ford Mustang took out the top spot once again for the most popular sportscar in Australia with around one third of sales in that segment being a Mustang (4,052). Overall Ford retains second place as the most popular brand in Australia with 7.8% of the market behind Toyota who still have a commanding presence in Australia with 19.8% of all new vehicle sales in 2025.
Mazda came in third (91,923) with Kia remaining in fourth place (82,105), Hyundai moved up to fifth (77.208), and Mitsubishi dropped back one spot to sixth (61,198). GWM consolidated seventh place once again (52,809) and BYD came in eighth more than doubling the number of vehicles it sold in 2024 and nearly tripling its overall market share (52,415). Isuzu Ute (42,297) and MG (41,298) both lost ground in 2025 and rounded out the top ten.
Overall Australia’s new vehicle market was 1,241,037 units in 2025, underscoring the resilience of the automotive industry and reflects sustained consumer demand and the continued evolution of vehicle choice in Australia.
Plug-in hybrid vehicles recorded the strongest growth of any drivetrain in 2025, with sales more than doubling to 53,484 units, but PHEVs still only makeup 4.6% of all Passenger, SUV and Light Commercial sales. Hybrids also continued to gain momentum, with 199,133 vehicles sold, up 15.3% year on year, reinforcing their role as the most popular lower-emissions option among Australian buyers.
“Many consumers are choosing hybrid and plug-in hybrid vehicles as a practical transition toward lower emissions. While the industry is investing heavily in battery electric technology, uptake ultimately depends on consumer readiness and the availability of reliable public recharging infrastructure,” said FCAI chief executive Tony Weber.
Battery electric vehicle sales from all sources (VFACTS & Electric Vehicle Council) totalled 103,270 units, accounting for 8.9% of Passenger, SUV, Light Commercial sales for the year. Despite more than 100 battery electric vehicle models available in Australia, growth in the segment has been slower than expected with just an increase of 1.2% over 2024 figures in terms of overall market share.
“The growth of battery electric vehicle market share has been anaemic and well below earlier projections,” Mr Weber said.
Julie Delvecchio, CEO of the Electric Vehicle Council (EVC) has a somewhat different spin saying, “Australians are choosing electric vehicles in record numbers because they are cheaper to run, cleaner and quieter.” That’s because the EVC count plug-in hybrids as electric vehicles, despite the vast majority of them nowhere achieving their claimed fuel figures in the real-world from my experience.
The ‘Light Vehicle Emissions Intensity in Australia: Trends Over Time,’ report published in December 2025 revealed that emissions intensity from light vehicles first registered in 2024 fell by 3.9%. This is despite the fact that the average mass for all light vehicles grew by 13% between 2003 and 2024. With utes and pick-ups entering the fleet for the first time in 2024 having an average footprint of 10.28 m2, 1.6 m2 larger than in 2003.
Australian preferences for SUVs increased in 2025, with the segment accounting for 60.7% of total sales, followed by light commercial vehicles at 22.6% and passenger vehicles at 13.0%. The automotive industry continues to adapt to the New Vehicle Efficiency Standard, which commenced last year. Early compliance outcomes will not be known until official reporting is released in coming weeks and, while 2025 targets are relatively achievable, future years introduce substantially tighter limits.
“The NVES has provided policy certainty and has led to an increased availability of EVs in Australia. However, it has had little discernible effect on EV demand,” Mr Weber said. There’s also a growing concern about what the impact of NVES will be on vehicle availability, affordability and consumer choice as the Government’s targets become more stringent according to the FCAI.
Vehicles manufactured in China represented approximately 18% of total new vehicle sales in 2025, up from around 14% in 2024, making China Australia’s third-largest source of vehicles. The likes of BYD, Chery, and GWM have all seen large increases in sales with many newcomers entering the market including Deepal, Geely, JAC, Leapmotor, Omoda Jaecoo, and Zeekr. This has had an impact on legacy brands here in Australia, with Mazda, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Subaru, and Volkswagen all seeing a drop in sales for 2025.
For the third consecutive year, BMW finished as Australia’s best-selling premium brand, with 26,842 BMW vehicles sold, representing a 1.9% increase on 2024. The result reflects sustained customer demand for BMW’s diverse product range and its “technology openness” strategy, which allows customers to choose a particular model with different drivetrain options – battery electric, plug-in hybrid, or combustion engine. Traditional BWM rivals Audi and Mercedes-Benz both also saw a rise in sales, up 4.4% and 14.3% respectively.
Fellow German manufacturer Porsche saw a considerable decline in sales, down 27% for the year. The introduction of the all-electric Macan saw a drop of more than 30% in sales of their most popular model by volume. Conversely fellow luxury brands Lexus and Land Rover both received a boost in sales for 2025, with Lexus up 6.7% and Land Rover up 5.4%. As did Genesis, the Korean luxury offering from Hyundai, which was up 14.4%.
Lamborghini, Ferrari, and McLaren all saw a reduction in the number of vehicles sold, but for Lambo it was only one less than 2024 (272). Ferrari was down 10.6% selling 220 vehicles for 2025 and 56 of those were Purosangues. McLaren was down 28.4% to 68 units and they have also official announced that they will be building an SUV with the launch date slated for 2028.
Automobili Lamborghini’s growth journey continues at pace as, in 2025, the company once again surpassed the milestone of ten thousand vehicles delivered, further improving on the previous year’s performance and setting a new all-time record with 10,747 vehicles delivered worldwide. In the Asia Pacific (APAC) region 2,750 vehicles were delivered and customer Temerario deliveries begin from January, with an order book already covering approximately twelve months. With this, Automobili Lamborghini confirms the milestone of becoming the only luxury super sports car manufacturer to offer an entirely hybridised range, an achievement that continues to set the Sant’Agata Bolognese marque apart within the automotive landscape.
Among the other high-end brands, the results were varied with Aston Martin up 20.1%, Bentley down 18.0%, Lotus down 53.5% and selling just 12 of their electric performance SUVs in 2025, and Maserati were also down by 30%.
Rolls-Royce sales are up by 24.1% with Australia emerging as one of the biggest growth markets in the Asia Pacific region, where the marque achieved its strongest year. Rolls-Royce Cullinan was most requested model in 2025, followed by Rolls-Royce Spectre and the company saw significant year-on-year uplift in luxury lifestyle accessory commissions.
Australia’s new vehicle market remains resilient despite uncertain economic and political times. Will it be able to maintain momentum in 2026? Let’s find out together, shall we?
Based on information provided by and used with the permission from the Electric Vehicle Council of Australia Limited & Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (or “FCAI”), VFACTS Service.
Photographs by Driven Women Magazine.