VFACTS February 2025: Petrol, diesel and EV sales drop as PHEVs, hybrids surge

The Australian new-car market dropped by 7.9 per cent last month compared to February 2024, with major brands like Toyota and Ford going backwards.

According to VFACTS figures supplied by the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI), a total of 96,710 vehicles were delivered in February 2025 after Tesla and Polestar sales figures from the Electric Vehicle Council are included.

This was down 7.9 per cent on February 2024, however last February was a record month.

Electric vehicle (EV) sales plunged by 43.8 per cent to 5684 units last month, largely due to another disappointing month for Tesla deliveries which fell by 71.9 per cent.

In contrast, sales of plug-in hybrid vehicles (PHEVs) soared by 346.1 per cent to 4871 deliveries.

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Both PHEVs and hybrids were up on February 2024, with the latter posting an increase of 34.7 per cent. Petrol and diesel vehicle deliveries were down by 13 and 16.1 per cent, respectively, to 40,496 and 26,863.

The BYD Shark 6 ute stormed into the top 10 in its first month of recorded deliveries, with 2026 examples of the plug-in hybrid reaching customers.

There’s a caveat here, as 450 of these were delivered in January but weren’t reported in that month’s VFACTS due to an administrative error.

Even setting those aside, however, the Shark 6 still managed to outsell the Isuzu D-Max, which consistently takes the bronze medal in sales in the ute segment.

It wasn’t quite enough to vault BYD into the top 10, and it sat just outside in 11th spot.

Despite the rise for the Shark 6, light commercial vehicle sales were down by 10.2 per cent.

It was Zeekr’s first appearance in the VFACTS sales charts, with 99 deliveries recorded. All but one of these were for the small X SUV, which came close to matching its Volvo EX30 platform-mate (108 deliveries).

Still missing from the sales charts are Deepal, Ineos, Mahindra, Smart and Xpeng, though Tesla and Polestar report their figures to the Electric Vehicle Council (EVC). This means we have to collate data from two sources for our monthly coverage.

“We are now two months into the Government’s New Vehicle Efficiency Standard, and while the supply of battery electric vehicles has risen dramatically, consumer demand has fallen by 37 per cent this year compared with the first two months of 2024,” said FCAI chief executive Tony Weber.

That figure Mr Weber quotes includes both VFACTS and EVC data.

“We knew the supply of EVs would increase and there are now 88 models supplied to the Australian market. However, our grave concern has always been the rate of EV adoption and what assumptions the Government had made in its modelling around consumer demand for EVs in the NVES. This modelling remains secret,” he continued.

“The easy part is to set aspirational targets but without consumers demanding EVs, the NVES will not succeed. It is time for the Government to consider the realities faced by consumers.”

The FCAI notes there was one fewer selling day in February 2025, which partially accounts for the decline.

Brands

Toyota deliveries fell by 2.8 per cent, but this is Toyota we’re talking about here – it was still the best-selling brand by a country mile.

As is often the case, Mazda sat in second place, with deliveries up by 19.7 per cent thanks to a strong month for almost its entire range.

The CX-60 was up 99.1 per cent over last Feburary, while the Mazda 2 was up 44.6 per cent, the Mazda 3 by 55.8 per cent and even the moribund Mazda 6 posted a significant 41.7 per cent increase.

Kia pushed past Ford for third position, with deliveries up by 9.2 per cent. Even with the Cerato winding down and sales of its EVs dropping off, Kia’s rise was fuelled by the pint-sized Picanto (up 86.2 per cent) and the commodious Carnival (up 93.3 per cent).

Much of Ford’s range was down, though the Everest posted a 14 per cent increase to 1207 deliveries, while the Mustang Mach-E was up 45.5 per cent albeit to just 96 deliveries.

Mitsubishi still has stock of the outgoing ASX, which allowed the small SUV to post a 7.0 per cent increase to 1134 deliveries. But slumps for the Eclipse Cross (738 deliveries, down 14.4 per cent) and Triton (1420, down 7.6 per cent) saw the brand’s total deliveries fall by 4.6 per cent.

The top 10 was rounded out by Hyundai, GWM, MG, Nissan and Subaru.

Nissan had a disappointing month, with deliveries down by 46.2 per cent to 3559 units. Every member of its lineup was down by double digits.

Models

For the second month in a row this year, the Toyota RAV4 took the top spot, with deliveries up by 54.9 per cent on February 2024.

The top 10 looked largely the same as last month, apart from the fresh arrival of the BYD Shark 6.

Segments

• Micro cars: Kia Picanto (484), Fiat 500 (49)
• Light cars under $30,000: MG 3 (1066), Mazda 2 (473), Suzuki Swift (298)
• Light cars over $30,000: Mini Cooper (202), Hyundai i20 (137), Audi A1 (54)
• Small cars under $45,000: Toyota Corolla (1561), Mazda 3 (1173), Hyundai i30 (872)
• Small cars over $45,000: MG 4 (451), Volkswagen Golf (241), Mercedes-Benz A-Class (162)
• Medium cars under $60,000: Toyota Camry (483), Mazda 6 (170), Skoda Octavia (73)
• Medium cars over $60,000: Tesla Model 3 (668), BMW 3 Series (162), Mercedes-Benz C-Class (110)
• Large cars under $70,000: Skoda Superb (14), Citroen C5 X (1)
• Large cars over $70,000: BMW 5 Series (85), Mercedes-Benz E-Class (26), Porsche Taycan (18)
• Upper large cars: Porsche Panamera (15), Mercedes-Benz S-Class (9), BMW 7 Series (3)
• People movers under $70,000: Kia Carnival (897), Hyundai Staria (84), Ford Tourneo (40)
• People movers over $70,000: Lexus LM (32), Mercedes-Benz V-Class (32), Toyota Granvia (11)
• Sports cars under $90,000: Ford Mustang (376), Mazda MX-5 (71), Subaru BRZ (62)
• Sports cars over $90,000: Mercedes-Benz CLE (78), BMW 2 Series coupe (63), BMW 4 Series two-door range (61)
• Sports cars over $200,000: Porsche 911 (33), Ferrari two-door range (19), Aston Martin two-door range (19)

• Light SUVs: Mazda CX-3 (1509), Toyota Yaris Cross (975), Suzuki Jimny (710)
• Small SUVs under $45,000: Hyundai Kona (1889), MG ZS (1720), GWM Haval Jolion (1306)
• Small SUVs over $45,000: Volkswagen T-Roc (477), BMW X1 (342), Toyota C-HR (316)
• Medium SUVs under $60,000: Toyota RAV4 (4405), Mitsubishi Outlander (2385), Mazda CX-5 (1932)
• Medium SUVs over $60,000: Tesla Model Y (924), Mazda CX-60 (462), Lexus NX (460)
• Large SUVs under $80,000: Toyota Prado (2723), Ford Everest (1207), Kia Sorento (905)
• Large SUVs over $80,000: Land Rover Defender (316), BMW X5 (205), Range Rover Sport (170)
• Upper large SUVs under $120,000: Nissan Patrol (522), Toyota LandCruiser (292), Kia EV9 (34)
• Upper large SUVs over $120,000: Lexus GX (91), BMW X7 (69), Mercedes-Benz GLS (40)

• Small vans: Volkswagen Caddy (82), Renault Kangoo (33), Peugeot Partner (28)
• Medium vans: Toyota HiAce (1039), Ford Transit Custom (258), Hyundai Staria Load (216)
• 4×2 utes: Toyota HiLux (517), Isuzu D-Max (429), Ford Ranger (258)
• 4×4 utes: Ford Ranger (3782), Toyota HiLux (3099), BYD Shark 6 (2026)
• Large pickups: Ram 1500 (224), Chevrolet Silverado 1500 (199), Ford F-150 (155)

Sales by category

Includes Tesla and Polestar sales.

Top segments by market share

Includes Tesla and Polestar sales.

Sales by region

Includes Tesla and Polestar sales.

Sales by buyer type

Excludes Tesla, Polestar and heavy commercial sales.

Sales by fuel or propulsion type

Includes Tesla and Polestar sales.

Sales by country of origin

Includes Tesla and Polestar sales.

MORE: VFACTS January 2025: Slow start to slower year