The FCAI headlined its September report “Sales edge higher amid shifting buyer preferences”. Its own numbers show a petrol rout, and Tesla’s Model Y outsold Toyota’s HiLux without getting a line in its tables.
September car sales, as the FCAI tells it, crept up 0.9% to 102,924. In the same month petrol sales fell 36.2%, from 40,775 to 26,018, and diesel dropped 18.4%. “Shifting buyer preferences” is a gentle way to describe a third of the petrol market walking out the door in 12 months.
The Tesla Model Y sold 4,476 in September. Toyota’s HiLux sold 4,455, and that’s 4X2 and 4X4 combined. You won’t find the Model Y in the FCAI’s tables, because Tesla and Polestar don’t report to it, and neither does Cadillac, among others. Its version of September leaves out the third best-selling vehicle in the country, and every top 10 copied straight from it has a hole where that car should be.
The FCAI also cut smaller outlets like us off from the model-level detail, with the aim of getting rid of “freeloaders”. So we put Tesla back in from Electric Vehicle Council figures. The tables below are the real market, not the members’ edition.
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ABOVE: Above: Tesla Model Y L, Toyota RAV4, BYD Sealion 7, Geely EX5 and GWM Haval Jolion.
None of this is an accident of bookkeeping. The FCAI is a lobby group running a protection racket for legacy brands, and those brands are being wiped out by Chinese models. A chart without the defectors makes the members look bigger, and locking up the detail makes that harder to check.
What the FCAI would rather you skimmed
Battery-electric sales on the FCAI count rose 184.7% to 20,433. Add Tesla’s 5,654 and electric reaches at least 26,087, which beats the 26,018 petrol cars sold in the month. Polestar’s figure isn’t in that sum yet, and it can only widen the gap. Electric outsold petrol in September, and the lobby group’s headline went with “edge higher”.
PHEVs rose 122.7% to 10,072 and hybrids climbed 20.7% to 17,843. Diesel slid to 25,173. Over the year to date, petrol is down 26.8% to 269,691, which is 98,876 fewer petrol sales than the first 9 months of 2025. Any other retail sector losing 36% of a core product in a year would call a crisis meeting. The car lobby calls it a preference.
The total barely moved, with the FCAI counting 914,312 year to date against 914,439 last year. What changed is what people bought, and who built it.
Five of the top 10 come out of Chinese factories
China supplied 36,504 vehicles in September, up 74.2%, and that’s 35.5% of the FCAI count. Japan supplied 23,133, down 13.0%. Thailand fell 15.2% to 17,800 and Korea fell 21.5% to 9,892. The China figure doesn’t include Tesla either, and Tesla’s Australian cars are built in Shanghai.
Five of the top 10 models are Chinese-built, and Geely’s EX5 and BYD’s Sealion 7 each cleared 2,000 in a single month. Zeekr went from 120 to 2,050. Omoda Jaecoo rose 344.2% to 2,310, and Chery rose 21.8% to 4,205. GAC sold 1,101 and Xpeng 615, both from nothing a year ago, while Denza found 385 buyers from a standing start.
The other side of the ledger reads like a closing-down notice. Subaru sold 2,009, down 42.6%. Mitsubishi fell 41.5% to 2,769 and drops out of the year-to-date top 10 once Tesla is counted. Suzuki fell 39.3%, Volkswagen 36.9%, Audi 32.6%, and Nissan 30.0%.
Toyota still tops both tables, but it sold 28,865 fewer cars in the first 9 months of 2026 than in the same stretch of 2025. The 4X4 ute fell 13.1% to 16,045, and light commercials as a whole fell 13.2% to 20,627. The Model Y beat the HiLux in a month when the whole ute market went backwards.
Tesla sold 5,654 in September, up 21.3%. The new three-row Model Y L made up 1,764 of the 4,476 Model Ys, and Model 3 rose 60.1% to 1,178. Tesla’s year to date is 41,705, up 84.1%, and already past the 28,856 it sold in all of 2025. We tracked EV share and Chinese brands in our August sales story as well.
Top 10 models, September 2026
| Rank | Model | Sep-26 |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ford Ranger | 5,062 |
| 2 | Toyota RAV4 | 4,624 |
| 3 | Tesla Model Y | 4,476 |
| 4 | Toyota HiLux | 4,455 |
| 5 | BYD Sealion 7 | 2,687 |
| 6 | Chery Tiggo 4 Pro | 2,059 |
| 7 | GWM Haval Jolion | 2,018 |
| 8 | Geely EX5 | 2,008 |
| 9 | Toyota Prado | 2,006 |
| 10 | Isuzu D-Max | 1,866 |
Ranger and D-Max, like HiLux, cover 4×2 and 4×4. Model Y includes 1,764 Model Y L.
Top 10 brands, September 2026
| Rank | Brand | Sep-26 | Sep-25 | Change | Up / Down |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Toyota | 17,682 | 18,318 | -3.5% | Down |
| 2 | BYD | 8,191 | 5,084 | +61.1% | Up |
| 3 | Ford | 7,592 | 8,300 | -8.5% | Down |
| 4 | Kia | 5,901 | 7,330 | -19.5% | Down |
| 5 | Mazda | 5,702 | 7,034 | -18.9% | Down |
| 6 | Tesla | 5,654 | 4,663 | +21.3% | Up |
| 7 | GWM | 5,212 | 4,945 | +5.4% | Up |
| 8 | Hyundai | 5,073 | 6,501 | -22.0% | Down |
| 9 | MG | 4,635 | 4,011 | +15.6% | Up |
| 10 | Geely | 4,473 | 461 | +870.3% | Up |
Top 10 brands, year to date September 2026
| Rank | Brand | YTD-26 | YTD-25 | Change | Up / Down |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Toyota | 152,944 | 181,809 | -15.9% | Down |
| 2 | BYD | 76,614 | 37,923 | +102.0% | Up |
| 3 | Ford | 61,104 | 70,881 | -13.8% | Down |
| 4 | Kia | 60,800 | 62,884 | -3.3% | Down |
| 5 | Mazda | 58,865 | 70,242 | -16.2% | Down |
| 6 | Hyundai | 56,009 | 58,458 | -4.2% | Down |
| 7 | GWM | 44,959 | 39,343 | +14.3% | Up |
| 8 | Tesla | 41,705 | 22,653 | +84.1% | Up |
| 9 | Chery | 38,022 | 24,028 | +58.2% | Up |
| 10 | MG | 36,832 | 32,620 | +12.9% | Up |
Sources: FCAI VFACTS, Electric Vehicle Council.
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Alan Zurvas is the founder and editor of Gay Car Boys, Australia's leading LGBTQI+ automotive publication. Before launching GCB in 2008, Alan's automotive writing was published in SameSame.com.au and the Star Observer. With over 16 years of hands-on car reviewing experience, Alan brings an honest, irreverent voice to every review — championing value and innovation over brand loyalty.
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