Chinese EVs dominate Australia and New Zealand in July 2026 — ten of the top fifteen sellers are Chinese brands

In July 2026, Australia and New Zealand delivered the clearest signal yet that Chinese electric vehicles are not a niche import story — they are the mainstream. Australia recorded 23,510 battery electric vehicles sold in a record month for all car sales, giving EVs a 21.7 per cent market share. Add plug-in hybrids and total plug-in penetration hit 33,869 units. New Zealand, recovering sharply from a policy-driven slump, saw BEV registrations rise 231 per cent year-on-year, with plug-in vehicles nudging 30 per cent penetration. Across both markets, Chinese brands account for ten of the fifteen best-selling battery electric vehicles — a concentration that would have seemed implausible three years ago. Australia now has 650,000 electric vehicles on its roads. New Zealand has crossed 100,000 BEVs and 50,000 PHEVs, reaching 3.38 per cent of the total fleet. The pace of change is accelerating, not stalling.

BYD sold 5,116 vehicles in July versus Tesla's 4,778 — beating its American rival in EVs for the fifth month out of seven in 2026. On a year-to-date basis BYD leads Tesla 34,308 to 28,366. The most striking single-model performance came from the BYD Sealion 7, which sold 2,548 units to place second overall — more than Geely EX5's strong 2,034 and Zeekr 7X's best-ever monthly showing of 1,892. The Omoda Jaecoo J5 notched 1,654, continuing its rapid ascent. New entrant GAC Aion V registered 373 sales — meaningful for a brand only just entering the market. Tesla's Model Y retained top spot with 4,644 units, boosted by the first deliveries of the new six-seat Model Y L. The overall picture is one of broad-based Chinese EV growth, not a single-brand phenomenon: BYD, Geely, Zeekr, Jaecoo and Aion each showed meaningful volume in a single month.

New Zealand's EV market was effectively destroyed by a conservative government that reversed the Clean Car Discount incentive scheme and introduced road user charges in early 2024. Registration data collapsed from a high of 37.7 per cent penetration in December 2023 to just 2 per cent in January 2024. By mid-2026, recovery was unmistakable: July saw BEV registrations climb 231 per cent year-on-year, with plug-in penetration back near 30 per cent. The brand composition of July's top sellers is striking. Zeekr 7X finished second overall behind the Tesla Model Y with 151 registrations. BYD Atto 3 took third with 121. Geely EX5 — not yet a UK market vehicle — placed fourth with 111. Chinese brands held seven of the top ten BEV spots. In the plug-in hybrid category, Chinese dominance was equally clear: BYD Sea Lion 7 topped PHEVs at 99 units, followed by MG4 at 98, ORA5 at 78, Jaecoo J5 at 87, Omoda E5 at 41, and Leapmotor C10 at 28. New Zealand is now a proving ground for the full breadth of Chinese EV exports.

Southern hemisphere sales data is one of the most reliable leading indicators of Chinese brand health available to UK buyers, precisely because these markets operate without UK-specific tariffs or political complications. A brand selling 2,500 units per month in Australia is a brand with real-world distribution infrastructure, parts availability, and aftersales commitment. That matters when you are evaluating whether a Chinese warranty will still be honoured in four years. BYD's position is the strongest: the brand leads Tesla in cumulative Australian sales for 2026, runs multiple models in the top ten, and continues expanding. Zeekr — the Geely premium EV sub-brand — is performing well ahead of many observers' forecasts: the 7X placed second in New Zealand in July. Geely itself, with the EX5 showing 2,034 units in Australia and 111 in New Zealand, is evidently building serious distribution capacity. The Omoda Jaecoo J5's 1,654 Australian units is particularly relevant context for UK buyers of Jaecoo 7, confirming the Chery group's international export machine is robust. Leapmotor's 28 NZ C10 PHEVs show early traction in yet another right-hand-drive market, consistent with its European expansion via Stellantis.

Three threads deserve attention in the months ahead. First, the charging infrastructure gap in both markets — Australia's FCAI has flagged that public charging may not keep pace with EV uptake, particularly outside cities. This is not a trivial concern: a 21 per cent EV market share running on infrastructure built for 5 per cent creates real range-anxiety risk for drivers without home charging. Second, the Geely EX5's extraordinary Australian performance (2,034 units — third overall) is a signal that Geely's non-Zeekr, non-Smart export arm is maturing faster than previously apparent. Whether the EX5 or its successors appear in the UK in 2027 is a question worth tracking. Third, the Arcfox T1 launched in New Zealand in August 2026 from NZ$34,990 — a BAIC-backed brand not yet in the UK. GAC Aion and Arcfox represent the next wave of Chinese brands preparing for right-hand-drive export markets. UK buyers have roughly a 12-to-18-month head start to assess these brands before they arrive.