Australia’s best-selling vehicle… is an EV

The Australian new-car market has well and truly been shaken up, with sales data from May 2026 showing the Tesla Model Y was the best-seller - the first time an EV has ever taken the monthly top spot.

Data from the Electric Vehicle Council (EVC) and the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) shows Tesla delivered 5605 examples of the Model Y to Australian customers in May, vaulting it above the Ford Ranger (5292 deliveries) to become the best-seller.

It was a record month for the Model Y, which led the charge for the 21,303 EV deliveries to account for 19.9 per cent of all the 106,887 new vehicles delivered in May, a new high in market share for the technology.

Combined with hybrids (19,024) and plug-in hybrids (9315), electrified vehicles totaled 46.6 per cent of the market, though petrol (28,692) and diesel (25,191) are still the leading sole fuel sources.

Though the Model Y led the vehicle sales charts (thanks in part to the arrival of the new seven-seat Model Y L), modest deliveries of the Model 3 meant Tesla came sixth overall among the car brands.

Leading the way continued to be Toyota with 16,342 deliveries, down a significant 30.7 per cent on the same month last year, on account of a huge reduction in Prado registrations (987 deliveries, down 63.9 per cent) and a slight dip for the popular RAV4 (3865 deliveries, down 3.4 per cent).

Toyota has said it has secured additional production of 10,000 vehicles (including the RAV4, HiLux and bZ4X) for Australia, due to arrive by the end of the year, as it projects an annual total of 220,000 deliveries.

Running second to Toyota for the second month running was BYD, which set a new personal monthly record of 8211 deliveries, having only just reset its own bar at 7702 deliveries in April.

Though no BYD vehicles were amongst the top 10 best-selling models, consistent deliveries of almost its entire product range assisted it to the podium position.

The brand this week is celebrating the arrival of its Zhengzhou car-carrying ship on local shores, which carried 4809 vehicles from BYD directly to Australia, at least 1855 have been unloaded in Melbourne.

These vehicles will be counted in next month’s deliveries reports.

BYD is also now one of Australia’s top-selling car brands so far this year. While Toyota leads the way with 76,017 deliveries between January and May, the fight for second is close between Kia (33,841), BYD (33,454), Mazda (33,224), Ford (33,115), and Hyundai (32,110).

For the fourth month in a row, China was the top source of vehicle imports to Australia, with 37,229 vehicles made in China delivered to customers, representing a new record and a 34.8 per cent market share.

Top 10 best-selling car brands in May 2026

Top 10 best-selling cars in May 2026