China-built EVs outsell petrol in Australia for first time — SkimNews
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- Battery-electric vehicles outsold petrol cars in Australia for the first time in August, hitting 27,078 units (24.9% of the new-car market) versus 25,824 petrol and 23,608 diesel vehicles, per VFACTS and Electric Vehicle Council data.
- Tesla Model Y topped every model on sale with 6,414 units sold (up 176% year-over-year) — but Tesla builds all its right-hand-drive Australian cars at Giga Shanghai, making it the only non-Chinese-brand EV in the top eight.
- BYD placed second by brand with 8,231 sales (up 68.8%) using a far wider lineup than Tesla's two-car range, while its Sealion 7 alone moved 2,213 units and finished sixth across the entire Australian market.
- Geely EX5 sales jumped more than 385% year-over-year, one of seven Chinese-brand models (from BYD, Geely, Zeekr, and Chery's Jaecoo) in the country's top eight EV sellers alongside two Teslas built in Shanghai.
- Australia's tariff-free EV market — with almost no tariffs on Chinese EVs, unlike the US or EU — is credited in the article as the reason cheap, capable EVs are reaching 24.9% share and accelerating the phase-out of combustion engines.
- Toyota, Mazda, and Kia all posted declining sales, with Toyota down 5.2% at 19,712 units, as Chinese EV brands added new nameplates every few months and absorbed legacy volume share.
Why it matters: Australia has become the clearest real-world test of what an open, tariff-free EV market produces: Chinese-built vehicles dominating sales while legacy brands slide. With BEVs already at 24.9% of new-car sales in a single month and electrified vehicles (including hybrids) taking 51.8% of the market, combustion-only cars have officially become the minority — months ahead of where Europe crossed that line.
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