The first half of the year is over, which now allows us to look back at the last six months and track the performance of the 60-plus auto brands that report their sales here.
That, for now, doesn’t include the likes of Mahindra, GAC and Cadillac, which report to neither VFACTS nor the Electric Vehicle Council.
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We’ve compared sales figures from the first half of 2026 with the first half of 2025 to identify which brands have posted the biggest rises… and which have experienced the greatest falls.
We’ve excluded exotic, low-volume brands like Lamborghini, as well as brands no longer selling new vehicles (eg: Jaguar, Citroen), and those that had only just started recording new-vehicle deliveries in the first half of last year. There were a lot of those, including Deepal, Geely, GMC, JAC, Omoda Jaecoo, and Zeekr.
WINNERS
Leapmotor
Leapmotor had the greatest percentage increase of any brand, but there are a few caveats.
The Chinese electrified vehicle brand only commenced local deliveries in December 2024, and had only a single model – the C10 mid-size SUV – until late in 2025.
Therefore, its 152.1 per cent year-to-date sales increase is off a low base. With 779 deliveries in the first half of 2026, it’s being comfortably outpaced by rivals like Geely (10,970).
The newer B10 small SUV has overtaken the C10 in the sales race, with 511 deliveries versus 268. Leapmotor is introducing a new, third model – the small B05 electric hatch – in August, and it remains to be seen how much this will boost sales.
MORE: Explore the Leapmotor showroom
BYD
Much has been said of BYD’s rapid sales growth in Australia, which has culminated in the brand becoming the number two auto brand in our market for three months this year.
Compared with the first half of 2025, its sales are up 124.1 per cent to 52,335 units, driven by not only growing sales for existing models but the arrival of new model lines like the entry-level Atto 1 hatch and flagship Sealion 8 large SUV.
Only one model went backwards in the first half of this year, and that was the popular Shark 6 plug-in hybrid ute which dropped 8.9 per cent to 9493 units.
BYD’s best seller is now, comfortably, the Sealion 7 mid-size electric SUV (12,516, up 233.2 per cent), with the Shark 6 in second place and a close race for third between the Atto 2 (5401) small SUV, the Sealion 8 (5380), and the mid-size Sealion 6 plug-in hybrid SUV (5312).
MORE: Explore the BYD showroom
Chery
While Chery has launched another brand, Omoda Jaecoo, it has managed to avoid cannibalisation of its namesake brand’s sales in Australia.
Chery grew 76.8 per cent to 24,964 units, with all of its models posting increases apart from the combined C5/E5 small SUV lineup which lives in the shadow of the more affordable Tiggo 4.
The Chinese brand delivered 2532 C5 and E5 vehicles, down 5.9 per cent, while the Tiggo 4 was its best seller with 13,638 units, up 70.6 per cent.
Chery also delivered 5589 Tiggo 7 medium SUVs (up 172.6 per cent) and 2261 Tiggo 8 large SUVs (up 63.1 per cent), plus 944 examples of the recently launched Tiggo 9 flagship SUV.
MORE: Explore the Chery showroom
Tesla
Tesla has capitalised on rising electric vehicle (EV) demand and concern over fuel prices and supply, delivering 23,588 vehicles in the first half of 2026 – up an impressive 66.7 per cent.
It managed this despite slumping sales of its Model 3 sedan, which dropped by 14.1 per cent to 3192 units.
The Model Y mid-size SUV more than made up for this, however, with 20,396 deliveries (up 95.5 per cent). It’s not only Australia’s best-selling EV, but it was also Australia’s most popular new vehicle in both May and June.
MORE: Explore the Tesla showroom
GWM
GWM sales grew by 20.5 per cent to 30,359 units in the first half of 2026, with double-digit increases across almost the entire lineup.
Only the Tank 500 was down, ahead of a transition from hybrid to diesel power. GWM delivered 629 examples of its flagship (for now) SUV, down 12.9 per cent.
Its best seller was the Haval Jolion small SUV, which rose 27.1 per cent to 11,480 units – still not quite enough to push past the segment-leading Chery Tiggo 4 (13,638) and Hyundai Kona (13,132).
The Haval H6 mid-size SUV was its second-best-seller, with 7730 deliveries (up 11.9 per cent).
MORE: Explore the GWM showroom
LOSERS
Jeep
Jeep continues to sink further down the sales charts, delivering just 28 vehicles in June. It’s sitting at 365 vehicles year-to-date, down 66.3 per cent.
Stock of the Grand Cherokee large SUV has almost entirely dried up, the Compass small SUV is now dead in Australia and it’s unclear when its replacement will arrive, and the Avenger light electric SUV has proved a flop with just 43 sales to its name so far this year.
The Wrangler off-roader accounts for a total of 55 per cent of Jeep’s sales year-to-date, sitting at 201 units (down 8.6 per cent). It’s followed by the Gladiator dual-cab (86, down 56.3 per cent), Avenger (43, down 8.5 per cent), Compass (18, down 84.3 per cent) and Grand Cherokee (17, down 96.6%).
Jeep is running on fumes, but hope for its dwindling network of dealers could be around the corner as the brand is expected to tap Chinese partner Dongfeng for new models to be sold in Europe and the Asia-Pacific region.
MORE: Explore the Jeep showroom
Peugeot
Peugeot’s skidding sales made importer Inchcape’s announcement last week that it was dropping the brand not altogether surprising.
It delivered 427 vehicles in the first half of 2026, down 41.4 per cent on the same period last year. Every model posted double-digit declines apart from the recently redesigned 5008 mid-size SUV, which saw its sales grow by 50 per cent to 27 units.
Peugeot’s best-seller is the small Partner van, at 176 units – down 16.2 per cent year-to-date. In second is the 3008, of which 92 examples have been delivered this year, down 30.3 per cent.
All up, Peugeot’s sales were over nine different nameplates. Surprisingly, that also included the 208 hatch, of which Peugeot delivered a single example this year despite not having officially introduced the new-generation model.
It’s important to note that while Inchcape and Peugeot parent Stellantis have agreed to end their agreement, the French brand isn’t officially dead here and will be picked up by another distributor – or by Stellantis itself.
MORE: Explore the Peugeot showroom
Maserati
The Grecale mid-size luxury SUV gave Maserati a new, more affordable entry-level model to compete with the likes of the popular BMW X3, but while it’s beating its Alfa Romeo Stelvio platform-mate, it’s well off established rivals.
Just 98 have been delivered this year, down 24.6 per cent year-to-date. That’s well above the Stelvio (28, down 58.2 per cent) but behind the likes of the Genesis GV70 (570), let alone the German stalwarts.
The Grecale has to carry a lot of water for the Maserati brand, now that the Ghibli, Levante and Quattroporte are all dead. So far this year, Maserati has also delivered three members of its GranTurismo/GranCabrio sports car range.
All up, Maserati has delivered 101 vehicles this year, down 33.1 per cent on the first half of 2025.
MORE: Explore the Maserati showroom
Nissan
Nissan’s sales figures are a sea of red this year. It’s no longer a top-10 brand in Australia, but it is holding onto a top-20 position despite double-digit declines across the board.
A total of 13,854 Nissans have been delivered so far this year, with the X-Trail mid-size SUV accounting for more than half of its sales (7432, down 13.1 per cent). The Patrol full-size SUV is a distant second with 2843 units, down 24.8 per cent; a new generation is due in the next 12 months.
Nissan has trimmed its local lineup, axing the light Juke and large Pathfinder SUVs and reversing course on plans to bring a new-generation Leaf EV here.
It recently launched a new-generation Navara ute, based on the latest Mitsubishi Triton, but it’s sitting at only 2400 sales so far this year, a drop of 46.5 per cent on the first half of 2025.
Nissan’s Alliance partner Mitsubishi is down 25.7 per cent year-to-date, but it’s sitting at 24,802 sales. The original-recipe Triton is doing a lot better than its Nissan counterpart, with 10,351 sales this year.
Other Japanese brands to post significant drops included Subaru (14,817, down 25.6 per cent), Suzuki (6744, down 20.9 per cent), and market leader Toyota (95,141, down 21.4 per cent).
MORE: Explore the Nissan showroom
Cupra
With sales down 32.4 per cent to 1091 units, Cupra had the greatest decline of any Volkswagen Group brand besides Lamborghini (69, down 54 per cent). Porsche wasn’t far behind, however, with a 29.9 per cent drop, though it sold roughly twice as many vehicles at 2077.
The brand’s drop came despite the Spanish subsidiary having recently received fresh new models in the Tavascan and Terramar SUVs, although updated versions of its stalwart Leon and Formentor arrived later than expected.
The Formentor remains its best seller with 352 examples delivered in the first half of 2026, down 61.3 per cent. It no longer has such a disproportionate share of total Cupra sales, however, with the Tavascan (287, up 68.8 per cent) and Terramar (259, up 531.7 per cent) rapidly narrowing the gap.
The moribund Ateca mid-size SUV had a dead cat bounce, with 110 reaching customers in the first half of the year, up 93.0 per cent.