China surpasses Japan as Australia's top car exporter

There’s a quiet revolution taking place on the Australian new car sales charts, a revolution that is dramatically reshaping the automotive setting with a simple three-word calling card: ‘Made in China’.If you’ve been paying attention you’ll know that China is already the number one source for Australia’s new cars in 2026, relegating the once-dominant Japan into second place earlier this year. Of the 475,659 new vehicles sold in Australia to the end of May, 128,559 – more than 27 per cent – were manufactured in the Asian powerhouse.Sales of cars produced in Japan, meanwhile, continued to slide, losing market share hand over fist to its Asian neighbour, now less than 25 per cent. Five years ago, that market share sat at 33.4 per cent while China was just starting to flex its muscle, more than doubling its market share in a single calendar year from 3.3 per cent in 2020 to 7.2 per cent by the end of 2021. And its inexorable climb shows no signs of slowing down.Leading the way is automotive powerhouse BYD, which has already claimed the number three spot on the sales charts, just a few hundred sales behind Kia in second, but with a mountain to climb to Toyota in first. Don’t be surprised, though, if by the time you read this, BYD has overhauled the Korean brand as it has already done with the likes of Ford, Mazda, Hyundai, Mitsubishi, Nissan and Subaru, leaving a litter of legacy automakers in its wake. 16Arguably BYD’s most important vehicle in an 11-model line-up that encompasses everything from an electric city-sized hatchback to zeitgeist-tapping plug-in hybrid dual-cab ute, is the vehicle we’re testing here, the Sealion 7 electric medium SUV. It’s easily the brand’s best-seller in Australia, its 7786 sales to the end of May comprising just over 23 per cent of BYD’s total.The Sealion 7 arrived here in 2025 hellbent on challenging the segment-dominating Tesla Model Y. It’s a tall order for the still fledgling brand, which, despite overtaking Tesla as the overall global leader in electric cars in 2025, still lags behind the Model Y mid-size SUV which found just over 1.08 million new homes last year, 22,239 of them in Australia. It remains the world’s number-one selling EV. More mountains to climb.Just two model grades of the Sealion 7 have made their way to Australia. Both are competitively priced and both bring a level of equipment and EV smarts expected by today’s tech-savvy buyers.On test here we have the entry point into the range, the rear-wheel drive BYD Sealion 7 Premium, priced from $54,990 before on-road costs and options. A lick of Shark Grey metallic paint – one of an austere four-colour palette – adds $2000 to the bottom line.Even with premium paint, the Sealion 7 at its most affordable point undercuts its Tesla Model Y rival on price, the most affordable of Elon’s take on the medium SUV formula – Premium RWD – starting from $58,990 before on-road costs and options.It’s a compelling proposition then, one that double taps into the twin zeitgeists of electric vehicles and medium SUVs. No wonder buyers are taking notice in ever-increasing numbers.One of the ways brands from China have achieved cut-through in an ever-competitive marketplace is to throw the full catalogue of equipment and features at its model line-up. BYD knows this, and plays it better than most with a standard list of features that would put many ‘premium’ carmakers to shame, and certainly at a price that most of the Europeans would struggle to match. 16The Sealion 7’s list is long but includes niceties like leather seats with heating and ventilation up front, a panoramic roof, head-up display, dual-zone climate control and swathe of in-car technology that will please even the most ardent of technophiles.The centrepiece of the Sealion 7’s tech-fest is a rotating 15.6-inch infotainment touchscreen that hosts the almost obligatory array of smartphone connectivity, inbuilt satellite navigation, and a 12-speaker Dynaudio sound system. The screen can be rotated to face the rear passengers for movies and games.