Imports from China surge past those from Japan this year

China’s BYD logged the biggest increase in unit sales in the January-April period, according to recent figures from Cox Automotive, selling 13,269 more cars than the same period a year ago. Chinese peers Chery, Geely, GWM and Jaecoo rounded out the top five.

On the other side of the ledger, market leader Toyota saw the steepest sales decline in the period, of 17,502 units, followed by fellow Japanese manufacturers Mitsubishi, Nissan, Mazda and Ford of the U.S.

    • thanksforallthefish@literature.cafe
      8·
      27 days ago

      Relevant text pasted below - watch out on the numbers they shift from per year to in first 4 months which is a little confusing

      === Toyota remains the largest player in Australia and cars from Japanese-headquartered companies still made up 40% of total sales in the first four months of the year, but they are coming under increasing pressure from brands from China.

      The number of Chinese models available has grown more than fivefold since 2022, with 70 now on the market. China’s 11 automakers, with 22 brands between them, were responsible for about 25% of total sales in the January-April period, compared to just under 15% last year.

      With Australia’s total new car sales hovering around 1.2 million vehicles per year and more Chinese manufacturers arriving this year, “clearly that’s less of the pie for everybody else,” Costello said. “It’s slightly simplistic, but ‘China up, Japan down’ is kind of what we’re seeing. The Japanese brands are still very strong but … the market as a whole has only grown a few percent,” he added.

      In another sign of the global shift in the automotive industry, imports of cars manufactured in China – both Chinese brands and non-Chinese brands with factories there – outpaced those of cars built in Japan for the first time this year.

      Australia imported 107,196 China-made vehicles in the first four months, a 60% increase from the same period last year. Some 94,500 imports were built in Japan, down 23%, while 72,689 were made in Thailand, 47,492 in South Korea and 17,569 in Germany.

      China’s strength is even more stark when looking at electric vehicles: Its automakers hold 54% of the Australian EV market and 76% of the plug-in hybrid sector.

      The Tesla Model Y narrowly remained the most popular EV model in Australia between January and April, followed by the BYD Sealion 7. But in terms of overall electric sales, BYD was far ahead of the pack, selling 14,406 vehicles, compared with No. 2 Tesla, with 8,485.