VFACTS December 2022: Chinese car sales set new records in Australia

New cars from China posted record sales in Australia last year, claiming their biggest slice of the local market to date as they eroded the dominance of motor vehicles manufactured in Japan, Thailand and South Korea.

Official new-car sales figures released this week by the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries showed more than 122,000 vehicles manufactured in China were reported as sold in Australia last year.

Motor vehicles manufactured in China now account for 11.4 per cent of the total new-car market in Australia, compared to those from Japan (30.5 per cent), Thailand (22.7 per cent), and South Korea (14.7 per cent).

Five years ago, China was not even inside the Top 10 of vehicle manufacturing sources for Australia, but the rise since then has been meterotic.

Cars from China overtook those from Germany and the USA two years ago and the country is now firmly embedded as the fourth biggest source of motor vehicles for Australia.

MG – which is owned by Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation (SAIC) – reported just shy of 50,000 new motor vehicles as sold in Australia in 2022.

That’s more than triple MG’s annual tally in Australia three years ago.

MG outsold Hyundai and Mitsubishi to rank fifth outright in the December 2022 new-car sales race – its highest result to date – and finished the year in seventh place ahead of Isuzu, Subaru and Volkswagen.

Great Wall Motors Haval reported 25,000 new motor vehicles as sold in Australia in 2022, more than five times higher than its annual tally three years ago.

The independently-distributed LDV brand – which specialises in utes and vans – reported a record 16,200 new vehicle deliveries in Australia last year.

Representatives for all three Chinese brands in Australia said they could have sold even more vehicles had they been able to import enough stock, but supply was restricted by production interruptions in the wake of the pandemic.

The rise in Chinese vehicle sales has now gained serious momentum after a stalled start more than a decade ago. 

However few further details of Chery cars in Australia have been announced – and the launch dates it has confirmed have been delayed multiple times.

The Chery brand was sold in Australia from 2011 to 2015 but left under a cloud after some of its vehicles were found to have contained asbestos – a banned cancer-causing material in Australia. Chery vehicles also performed poorly in crash tests at the time.

But Chery says it has reinvented itself and plans to introduce new models that meet the latest safety and emissions regulations, as part of its plans to increase sales globally.

The tables below show the rise of Chinese car sales in Australia over the past five years.

Source: Drive.com.au data centre.