Australia’s EV sales surge isn’t dying down
For the second month in a row, electric vehicles represented the top-selling car type in Australia, once again proving more popular than petrol and diesel.
After EVs became the popular fuel type of choice for Australia’s new-car buyers for the first time in August 2026, the feat has been backed up again, with September data showing the sales boom is continuing.
In September 2026, data from the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries' VFACTS report and the Electric Vehicle Council (EVC) shows 108,778 new vehicles were delivered to buyers last month.
Of this, 26,287 deliveries of EVs were made for a 24.2 per cent market share, just ahead of petrol and diesel power, which contributed 26,018 and 25,173 deliveries, respectively.
Combined with hybrids (17,843 deliveries) and plug-in hybrids (10,072 deliveries), electrified vehicles accounted for a huge 49.8 per cent market share overall, though this was down slightly from the August record of a 51.7 per cent share.
While the new-car market was up 1.8 per cent year-on-year overall, EV deliveries have surged by 117.7 per cent comparing September 2025 to the same month in 2026, driven by three of the 10 best-selling vehicles for the month being electric-only.
Despite EVs being the most popular fuel source, the Ford Ranger – available with petrol, diesel and plug-in hybrid power – was the top seller overall, adding another 5062 deliveries to its annual tally.
The Ranger remains Australia’s best-selling new vehicle despite a stumble in August, where just 2440 examples were delivered, owing to a recall and pause in deliveries while the fault was rectified.
Behind it sat two SUVs in the Toyota RAV4 (4624 deliveries) and the Tesla Model Y (4476 deliveries), while its HiLux rival was closely behind in fourth, registering 4455 deliveries.
Though BYD is still the second-most popular new-car brand this year, its Sealion 7 electric SUV’s 2687 deliveries for the month were far off what the top four performers managed, though it was enough to get ahead of a tightly congested gaggle of cars from sixth to 10th.
The Chery Tiggo 4, GWM Haval Jolion, Geely EX5, Toyota LandCruiser Prado, and Isuzu D-Max were all split by fewer than 200 deliveries for the month.
China is also now the undisputed leader in Australia’s source of new-car imports, with 42,358 vehicles registered here last month coming from Chinese production lines, a huge increase of 63.8 per cent on the same month a year ago.
Japan, long the leading importer prior to February this year, now accounts for just 23,133 imports, dropping 13 per cent year-on-year. Likewise, Thailand (17,800 deliveries) and South Korea (9892 deliveries) have decreased by 15.2 per cent and 21.5 per cent, respectively.
