Car sales July 2025: Australia’s best-selling vehicles revealed

• Toyota dominates July sales with HiLux, RAV4 and Prado
• New players shake up the mid-sized SUV market
• Private buyers drive growth in dual cab utes  

July 2025 was the strongest July for Australian car sales on record, according to the latest VFACTS report from the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI).  

Total vehicle sales nationally hit 103,097 for the month (excluding the 1147 Tesla and Polestar sales recorded by the EVC), a 3.6 per cent increase on July 2024. This was driven primarily by an 11.5 per cent rise in SUV sales. 

FCAI chief executive, Tony Weber said, the result highlights robust underlying demand and a positive outlook among new vehicle buyers. 

“We are now seeing confidence return to the market, supported by a recent interest rate reduction and anticipation of further easing,” Weber said. 

Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) are experiencing a period of rapid growth, with sales up 183 per cent year to date, while interest in pure EVs is dropping in some areas but remaining buoyant in others. 

In the mid-sized SUV segment, Chinese brands such as BYD and GWM continue to steal sales from established heavyweights and have now exceeded some of the traditional front runners.  

Top-selling cars in Australia – July 2025   

Surging sales of the Toyota RAV4 SUV have pushed the Ford Ranger ute into third position, with the Toyota HiLux ute taking the top seller spot for July 2025. 

With 4676 sales for the month, the HiLux just edged out its stablemate RAV4 on 4415, with the Ford Ranger dropping to 3930.  

Interestingly, however, all three recorded drops compared to the month of July 2024, the HiLux seeing a minor 1.5 per cent fall from 4747, while the Ford Ranger dropped 20 per cent (from 4915) and the RAV4 lost more than 25 per cent (from 5933).  

The Ford Everest SUV and Isuzu D-Max ute remained steady at positions four and five with 2425 and 2351 sales respectively.   

The big improver compared to the same month last year is the Toyota Prado SUV. Fans are flocking to buy the new model, taking the Prado from just 21 sales in July 2024 to 2339 in 2025 – an 11,000 per cent increase that saw it claim sixth spot.   

The Prado’s bigger brother, the LandCruiser, sold a very respectable 2322 units for seventh, while the Chery Tiggo 4 Pro SUV also made its mark on the top 10 sales chart, moving 2065 units to take out eighth position.   

Making up the tailenders were the Toyota Corolla (which fell to just 1963 sales – 27 per cent less than July 2024) and the Hyundai Tucson, which improved 18 per cent on last year to record 1914 sales.   

Utes and SUVs: Sales by segment breakdown  

The passenger car market (sedans and hatches) saw a substantial drop from 17,291 in July 2024 to just 14,449 in July 2025, but light commercial vehicles and SUVs enjoyed growth (to 22,437 and 63,723 sales respectively).  

Notably, it was private buyers that drove the greatest growth in utes, up from 6048 in July last year to 7279 in July 2025. Dual cab utes continue to account for the lion’s share of ute sales, with the Toyota HiLux (4000), Ford Ranger (3696) and Isuzu D-Max (1818) leading the charge.  

The BYD Shark 6 remains the dark horse of the category, its 1233 sales putting it ahead of long-established light commercial favourites such as the Mazda BT-50 (888), Nissan Navara (550) and Volkswagen Amarok (394).  

Australia’s love affair with SUVs shows no signs of slowing, with every category from light SUVs to upper large SUVs recording an increase in sales for July 2025.  

It’s no surprise that medium-sized SUVs continue to dominate, selling in the greatest numbers and increasing total market share compared to July 2024.  

The Toyota RAV4 taking out the top spot with 4415 sales might cause a sense of déjà vu, but the composition of the ten best sellers is seeing some radical changes.  

The BYD Sealion 6, BYD Sealion 7, and GWM Haval H6 all sold in excess of 1000 units in July, closing the gap between them and perennial mid-sized SUV favourites such as the Nissan X-Trail (1098), Kia Sportage (1464) and Subaru Forester (1676).  

In the large SUV category, the Ford Everest (2425) and Toyota Prado (2339) duked it out for July bragging rights, well ahead of the third-placed Isuzu MU-X (1635). 

Small SUV buyers tend to be budget conscious and that’s certainly reflected in the Chery Tiggo 4 Pro’s meteoric rise to first position in the category for July 2025, selling 2065 units and relegating the beloved Hyundai Kona (1903) to runner up. 

The passenger car market makes expectedly grim reading, with overall volumes tiny and a mere handful of models seeing sales increase. Only Toyota managed to crack four figures with its Corolla (1963) and Camry (1156) – many of those likely business/fleet sales.  

The Hyundai i30 (893), Mazda3 (844) and Kia Picanto (607) continue to move decent numbers, but nearly all sedans and hatches saw a fall compared to July 2024.  

Which brands performed best in July 2025?  

While Toyota saw a slight fall in sales from 144,006 in July 2024 to 142,700 in July 2025, it continues to dominate the Australian car market with 20 per cent total market share.  

Mazda’s good form is persisting, with 56,394 sales enough to secure second spot and 7.9 per cent market share. 

Mazda pushed Ford to third place on the podium, although the Blue Oval wasn’t far behind with 54,579 sales and 7.7 per cent market share.  

Rounding out the top five were Kia (48,152 sales) and Hyundai (45,635), with 6.8 and 6.4 per cent market share respectively.  

Among newer brands, GWM has been the big improver, its 29,910 sales pushing it up to seventh place and giving it 4.2 per cent market share compared to just 3.4 per cent in July 2024.  

EV and hybrid car sales: A closer look   

While consumer interest in EVs continues to wane from the heady days of 2024, July was a strong month for sales, especially in the SUV category. 

Buyers purchased 5599 pure electric SUVs in July 2025, up from 3882 in the same month last year. 

The passenger car (sedans and hatches) category saw 1597 sales – a reasonable number but well down on July 2024 (1694) and reflecting the overall downturn in this segment.  

Light commercial buyers continue to be very wary of EVs, with just 23 sales for July (down from 28 the same time last year).  

Hybrid vehicles continue to perform strongly, seeing a modest increase in the SUV segment (up to 13,712 from 13,464 in July 2024) and nearly doubling their numbers in light commercials (up 126 from 70 last year). While passenger car hybrids did see a slump in sales compared to July 2024, they still accounted for 3919 sales – more than diesel, electric and PHEV combined.  

While they still represent a comparatively small part of the overall market, plug-in hybrids (PHEVs) are gaining in popularity, moving 4031 units compared to just 2219 in July 2024. The BYD Shark 6 ute achieved 1233 of these sales on its own. 

Top 10 best-selling vehicles in July 2025  

This article has been updated to include Tesla and Polestar figures, sourced from the EVC, in the sales numbers of sedans and SUVs.