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Despite the surge in EV sales from the Middle East conflict easing, BYD says it is still aiming to finish in the Top Three for new car sales in Australia this year.
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BYD Australia has signalled its goal to place among the Top Three best-selling car brands in Australia for calendar-year 2026 – not just in one or two months – thanks to an expanded Shark 6 ute range, two new models, and two major updates for existing vehicles.
Currently sitting in fifth place with sales figures year-to-date behind Toyota, Mazda, Kia, and Ford, the Chinese car giant placed third in March and second in April.
“We want to be around the Top Three by the end of this year. We're tracking, we're tracking pretty well thus far,” BYD Australia chief operating officer Stephen Collins told Drive.
“I think we'll get to the end of June [with] roughly around 50,000 units [sold], which is not far off our full-year volume for last year.”
Part of the brand’s strategy to boost figures is in motion with a company-owned, roll-on roll-off vessel – the BYD Zhengzhou – destined for Australia and docking in Melbourne on 2 June, with the brand saying all cars on the vessel are already sold.
The ship makes up part of the 30,000 cars set to land in Australia across May and June, which is approximately triple its usual shipments.
For the brand to reach top-three status in sales, it will likely need to trump Mazda’s 91,923 sales in 2025, and rival the 94,399 Ford vehicles that were reported as rolling off the showroom floor in the same year.
With the brand’s growth, it is on track to deliver as many as 90,000 vehicles in 2026 after reporting 7702 vehicle deliveries in April – a 140.2 per cent growth year-on-year.
Still, Collins says the brand “is not obsessed” with where it finishes at the end of the year, with changing economic environments due to the conflict in the Middle East.
“There are a lot of external factors that could influence the market in particular… Obviously with the crisis in the Middle East.
“But I think just the macroeconomic environment... There's likely to be more interest rate rises, and interest rate rises are designed to slow the economy… We're not obsessed with what number we finish. We just want to keep growing.”
BYD saw a spike in orders for electric cars shortly after the conflict in the Middle East began to hit fuel prices hard in March, though Collins says the sales split between EV and its other offerings has stabilised.
“My observation is that it's pretty much settled. We obviously saw a big influx in March, early April, but I think things have settled in terms of EVs.
“I think in March, EVs [were] around 70 per cent of our mix, which is very high. Normally it's about 50 per cent, and it’s back to about 50.”
To the end of April, BYD has reported 25,243 sales year-to-date, and if demand settles to February levels – when it reported 5322 deliveries – the brand may finish the year around 70,000 hand-overs.
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Zane Dobie comes from a background of motorcycle journalism, working for notable titles such as Australian Motorcycle News Magazine, Just Bikes and BikeReview. Despite his fresh age, Zane brings a lifetime of racing and hands-on experience. His passion now resides on four wheels as an avid car collector, restorer, drift car pilot and weekend go-kart racer.
