VFACTS August 2026: EVs outsell petrol, diesel and hybrid new vehicles in bumper month

New-vehicle sales were up in August 2026, with strong gains by brands such as BYD, Tesla and Omoda Jaecoo helping drive electric vehicles (EVs) to record market share.

A total of 108,760 new vehicles were delivered in Australia in August 2026, up 4.9 per cent on the same month last year, according to VFACTS data published by the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) and seen by CarExpert, plus Tesla and Polestar sales data made freely available by the Electric Vehicle Council.

A total of 27,078 of the new vehicles delivered in August were EVs, up 169.4 per cent year-over- year (YoY), which means for the first time this powertrain type has outsold all other types of propulsion.

Unusually, the FCAI's press release lists a different total EV sales figure of 27,089.

EVs accounted for almost one quarter of the overall new-vehicle market, at 24.9 per cent – a record level of market share for this powertrain type.

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For context, a total of 25,824 deliveries were of petrol-powered vehicles, followed by 23,608 diesels, 18,662 hybrids and 10,591 plug-in hybrids (PHEVs).

After decades of supplying sales data for every model sold by brands that report to it, the FCAI has supplied parties with an incomplete VFACTS report that lists only the top 25 best-selling vehicles.

The list is below, and expanded to include Tesla sales data from the Electric Vehicle Council.

Toyota was on top as usual, while BYD was again in second position for the fifth month in a row. Tesla vaulted to third position thanks to a 162.6 per cent YoY increase.

Kia was in fourth position, ahead of Mazda, Hyundai, GWM, Ford and MG. The 10th best-selling brand wasn't Chery but rather another Chinese brand, Geely.

Every Chinese brand in the top 10, plus Tesla, was up YoY; every other brand, in contrast, was down.

While Chery narrowly missed out on a top 10 spot, it sat in 11th with a significant gap between it and Isuzu Ute in 12th place. The Japanese brand managed to outsell Mitsubishi, long a top 10 fixture, despite having only two models in its showrooms.

Some brands still don't report to the FCAI or EVC, including Cadillac, Mahindra and Smart.