Out With the Old: How the Top Ten Evicted the Giants of the Aussie Road

The Australian automotive leaderboard used to be as predictable as the weather. For decades, you could bet your house on the final VFACTS tally: Toyota and Mazda would trade blows at the top, a couple of heavy diesel utes would lock down the podium, and a rotating cast of sensible Japanese and South Korean petrol SUVs would fill out the rest of the elite ten.

The latest mid-2026 charts didn’t just break those rules; they took the old playbook and threw it into a crusher.

The headline act is the Tesla Model Y sitting at number one overall. For a pure battery-electric vehicle to consistently out-deliver the Ford Ranger and the Toyota HiLux is a massive cultural inversion. Australia’s deeply entrenched dual-cab utility culture has been out-paced by an electric family crossover. It turns out that when a fuel crisis meets a heavily incentivised, tax-free corporate novated lease, everyday buyers will happily choose their wallets over traditional automotive tribalism.

But the real horror show for legacy car manufacturers isn’t what’s happening at the top—it’s the total demographic eviction happening down the order.

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Deep red Tesla Model 3 Performance driving on a winding road through arid, hilly terrain under a clear blue sky.

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The Model Y L in motion past classical architecture at dusk.

The Model Y L tackles unsealed roads with 2,088kg of all-wheel-drive confidence.

681km WLTP range makes the Model Y L a genuine long-distance touring proposition.

Second-row captain\’s chairs with 8-inch screen and heated ventilated seats.

Six seats across three rows with panoramic glass roof and white vegan leather.

ABOVE: Model Y takes top spot

Look at spots seven and eight. The middle of the top ten leaderboard was always the exclusive domain of household staples like the Mazda CX-5, Toyota Corolla, and Mitsubishi Outlander. These were the default choices for the suburban driveway. Today, those names have been completely wiped off the board.

In their place sit the Jaecoo J5 and the Chery Tiggo 4. These aren’t just new models; they are entirely new nameplates that barely existed on local roads a year ago. They have skipped the decades-long process of building traditional brand trust and marched straight into the elite ranks by weaponising a simple strategy: flooding the market with immediate stock and offering fully loaded, tech-heavy cabins for thousands less than a basic, stripped-out Japanese alternative.

The remaining spots on the leaderboard show an industry cleaved perfectly in half. On one side, you have the heavy-duty survivalists: the Ranger, the HiLux, the Isuzu D-Max, and the Ford Everest. These are the vehicles holding the line for buyers who genuinely need mechanical utility, towing capacity, and off-road capability.

But on the passenger side, the old guard is fighting a losing battle. With the Hyundai Kona, Tucson, and Toyota RAV4 leaning heavily on electrified drivetrains to survive, the top ten has become a hostile environment for a standard internal combustion engine.

The current leaderboard isn’t charting a slow, polite transition to a new era. It is a rapid, brutal replacement. The legacy brands that spent a century perfecting the petrol engine are watching their volume pillars vanish, replaced by a new guard that moves faster, prices sharper, and cares far more about software stability than heritage.

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Written by Alan Zurvas

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.