VFACTS September 2026: EVs outsell petrol cars again as Ford Ranger returns to top

Key takeaways

• EVs outsold petrol-only vehicles for the second consecutive month in September
• Ford Ranger reclaimed top spot on 5062 sales, ahead of Toyota RAV4
• Market rose 1.8% to 108,778, the second-best September on record

Electric vehicles outsold petrol-only models in Australia for the second month running in September 2026, but it was the Ford Ranger that finished as the country's best-selling new vehicle.

Combined figures from the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries' VFACTS report and the Electric Vehicle Council show 108,778 new vehicles were delivered last month, up 1.8% on September 2025.

That makes it the second-strongest September on record, behind the 110,702 sales of September 2023, when brands were still clearing pandemic-era order backlogs.

Ford Ranger

EVs outsell petrol and diesel again

EV deliveries more than doubled year-on-year to 26,287, a 117.7% increase. That was only 269 more than petrol-only vehicles (26,018), with diesel close behind on 25,173.

With fuel prices still high, petrol sales fell 36.2% and diesel dropped 18.4% compared with September last year.

Plug-in hybrids grew even faster than EVs, up 122.7% to 10,072 sales, while conventional hybrids rose 20.7% to 17,843. Combined, electrified vehicles accounted for 49.8% of the market.

Petrol and diesel still lead comfortably across the year to date, holding 28.2% and 24.3% market share respectively, against 18.9% for EVs.

BYD Sealion 7

Best-selling cars in September 2026

The Ranger returned to number one for the first time since March, with deliveries back on track after a stop-sale limited its August numbers. It posted 5062 sales, up 4%.

The Toyota RAV4 was second, up 81%, while August's top seller, the Tesla Model Y, slipped to third. The Toyota HiLux finished fourth but was down 11.7% despite a new-generation model arriving late last year.

Toyota RAV4

Three of the top 10 were EVs. The BYD Sealion 7 was fifth and the second-most popular EV in the country, while the Geely EX5 placed eighth with sales up 620%.

No passenger car made the top 20, which was made up of 16 SUVs and four utes.

Top car brands in Australia

Toyota stayed comfortably ahead as the top-selling brand on 17,682 deliveries, though that was down 3.5%. BYD finished second for the sixth consecutive month, with sales up 61.1%.

Tesla and the Chinese brands were the only top 10 names to grow year-on-year. Kia, Mazda and Hyundai all fell by close to 20% or more, while Geely's sales jumped 870.3%.

Further down, Chery sold 4205 vehicles but missed the top 10, and Zeekr (2050) narrowly outsold Nissan (2028). Mitsubishi and Subaru both fell more than 40%.

China-built vehicles reached 42,358 sales, up 63.8% and close to 39% of the market. Japanese-built vehicles fell 13% to 23,133.

Private buyer sales rose 3.6%, while business, rental and government fleet deliveries all declined.

October new-car sales figures are due in early November, when the Ranger and Model Y will again fight for top spot