The brands that set Australian sales records in 2023

Isuzu Ute, Lexus and MG are among brands to set sales records in Australia as both emerging brands and established players shake up the market, most notably Chinese and electric car makers.

A record-setting 2023 saw more new vehicles sold in Australia than ever, but with more brands hitting local showrooms record sales for car makers are becoming more difficult to come by.

The Isuzu D-Max followed home the Ford Ranger – which took the best-selling spot for the first time – and the Toyota HiLux as the third most popular ute.

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Isuzu Ute set a record in the process, with 45,341 sales to place tenth overall, with less than 1000 units between it and eighth-placed Tesla.

The best-selling Chinese car maker in Australia for 2023 was MG, with the
ZS small SUV its most popular model.

The revitalised brand set a new record yet again with 58,346 sales – beating its 2022 figure of 49,582 – to place seventh overall behind Mitsubishi’s 63,511 figure.

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MG’s 2023 figure comes off 15,253 sales in 2020 and 39,025 in 2021.

GWM and LDV join MG to make it three Chinese car makers in the Top 15 – all setting sales records – with GWM posting 36,397 sales (up 45.3 per cent) to rank 12th overall, with LDV 15th after posting a 30.9 per cent jump to 21,398 sales.

While Tesla began reporting sales via the official VFACTS portal only in April 2022, previously reported data confirms its 46,116 registrations for 2023 as its highest on record (placing it behind MG and ahead of Subaru by a mere two sales).

Volvo surpassed 10,000 sales for the second consecutive year, its new record of 11,128 led by its XC40 small SUV beating 2022’s 10,715 result.

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Lexus also posted its best numbers in its 33 years of operation, with 15,192 sales smashing its previous 9612 record set in 2019.

SsangYong was another car maker to post a new annual record here, with 5966 sales 51.3 per cent up on its 2022 record result of 3943.

At the premium end, Genesis posted its best year to date, close to double its 2022 sales of 1039 with 1916 sold in 2023, the GV70 mid-size SUV making up more than half of those sales.

Porsche sold 6052 units to break its record of 5608 set in 2022, with the Macan its most popular model and due for replacement in 2024.