Drive
If you need proof that the automotive world is changing far more rapidly now than ever before, consider the latest new vehicle registration figures just out.
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Published
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Australians now officially buy more vehicles sourced from China than from anywhere else in the world.
According to figures released in March by the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI), which is the leading body representing the car industry here, China edged ahead of Japan in February with 22,362 units (up from 15,410), versus 21,671 (down from 31,560).
To put this in perspective, at the start of 2020, the corresponding registration figures were just 3600 versus nearly 49,000.
This breaks Japan’s continuous 28-year run at the top in Australia, set in 1998 at the dawn of the SUV revolution that, at the time, was driven almost exclusively by Japanese manufacturers Toyota, Honda, Nissan, Mitsubishi and Subaru.
Prior to that, and due to punitive import tariffs and high local content requirements imposed all the way back in the 1920s, Australian-made vehicles were on top, so a change in leadership does not happen often and is thus a very big deal.
Also giving Japan a hard time is Thailand – home of most of the one-tonne utes sold in Australia – with 19,493 sales in February, followed by South Korea at 11,913 and Germany at 4272.
Predictably, leading the charge for China are Chinese brands BYD, GWM, Chery and MG, making up four of the top 10 manufacturers year-to-date in Australia. Comparatively inexpensive models like the BYD Shark 6 ute, Haval Jolion, Tiggo 4 and MG ZS are now commonplace on our roads.
However, it’s not just Chinese brands importing vehicles made in China, with European, American and even Japanese carmakers also sourcing models built there, including BMW, Cupra, Smart, Mazda, Kia, Hyundai and Tesla.
The latter also highlights a fault in FCAI’s accuracy in reporting the full sales picture in Australia.
China’s lead against Japan and others is actually considerably higher, as the FCAI does not include those of Tesla and arch rival Polestar, due to a long-running spat between it and the car brands, and has not done so for the past two years.
Combining the FCAI numbers with the February sales results supplied by the Electric Vehicle Council of Australia show that over 3400 extra vehicles from China were registered here, taking the latter’s total up to 25,781 units. This is made up of 3274 Teslas and 145 Polestars.
In a case of dramatic backroom politics, both of these EV brands abandoned the FCAI, alleging bias against pollution-reduction measures.
More specifically, Tesla and Polestar both claim that that the FCAI – which is partly funded by the major car manufacturers themselves as their representative body – is actively criticising the New Vehicle Efficiency Scheme (NVES) that came into effect last year (which encourages manufacturers to more electrified vehicles to the Australian market).
So, will Japan reclaim the number one spot as top supplier of new vehicles sold in Australia? Unlikely.
Beyond the aforementioned brands, there is Geely (owners of Polestar, incidentally), Jaecoo, XPeng, GAC, LDV, Deepal, JAC, Leapmotor (20 per cent owned by US/Euro conglomerate Stellantis), as well as the expected arrival of Forthing, Nio and Lepas.
Additionally, and as we have reported previously, China is going upmarket with BYD’s Denza luxury division, breaking yet another glass ceiling for that country’s manufacturers.
Watch this space.
