June 2026 VFACTS: BYD closes to 243 sales of Toyota as EVs cross 23% share

The June 2026 VFACTS release, published by the FCAI on 3 July, sets a new record for the Australian new-vehicle market: 140,058 sales from all sources, the highest monthly figure ever recorded. Battery electric vehicles accounted for 23.3% of those sales, up from 7.6% in June 2025. But the headline number for the industry isn’t the EV share — it’s that BYD finished the month just 243 units behind Toyota, the tightest brand-race Australia has seen in decades.

The topline: a record built on electrification

Total sales from all sources reached 140,058 in June, comfortably clearing the previous all-time high of 134,171 set in 2017. VFACTS itself — which excludes some direct-to-consumer brands including Tesla — recorded 131,134 sales, up seven per cent year-on-year.

The EV numbers underneath are the ones worth tracking. BEV share climbed to 23.3% of all sources in June, up from 20% in May and 8.4% back in January. That is close to a threefold rise in six months. Plug-in hybrid sales added a further 16,068 units in June, up 158% on the same month in 2025. Combined, BEVs and PHEVs made up roughly one in every three new vehicles sold — and once conventional hybrids are added, electrified vehicles accounted for nearly half the market.

The Electric Vehicle Council framed the same data as 35.8% of new passenger car sales, since the EVC excludes light commercial vehicles from its base. Both figures are correct — they just measure different denominators.

Brand race: Toyota holds on by 243 units

Toyota finished June as Australia’s top-selling brand with 19,124 sales. BYD came in second on 18,881 — a gap of 243 cars, or roughly 1.3%. It is the closest BYD has come to knocking Toyota off the top spot since the Chinese manufacturer entered the Australian market in 2022.

The half-year picture shows how quickly the gap has shrunk. Toyota’s H1 2026 total sits at 95,141, down from 120,978 in H1 2025 — a decline of more than 25,000 units. BYD’s H1 total is 52,335, up from 23,355 the prior year, a 124% year-on-year increase. Toyota is still comfortably ahead cumulatively, but the trajectory is not subtle.

BYD’s June included two arrivals of its own dedicated car carrier (the BYD Zhengzhou) and end-of-financial-year push-through. Both are lumpy — a single ship movement can add several thousand units to a monthly total — so treating June as a clean baseline for the second half would overstate the run-rate. Even so, the underlying trend is real: BYD is now selling more passenger vehicles per month in Australia than Ford, Kia and Hyundai combined.

Inside the EV mix: three BYDs in the top ten

Tesla Model Y deliveries hit 8,072 in June, a monthly record for the model in Australia and enough to make it the country’s best-selling vehicle of any type for the second consecutive month. That milestone was covered in our May sales story; the more interesting shift in June is what sits behind it.

Three BYD models cracked the top ten across the whole market: the BYD Sealion 7 (4,730), the BYD Shark 6 (3,398, plug-in hybrid), and the BYD Atto 2 (2,482 — a model debut in the overall top ten). The small BYD Atto 2 in particular is worth flagging: it is a sub-$40k electric SUV, and it outsold the petrol/hybrid GWM Haval Jolion (2,446) in the small SUV segment. That is the segment traditionally dominated by low-cost combustion cars, and it is now being led by a battery electric.

Below the top ranks, the shape of the EV market is broadening. June saw:

• Geely EX5: 2,303 sales, its fourth consecutive month above 1,000.
• Zeekr 7X: 1,868 sales.
• Omoda Jaecoo J5: 2,096 sales (many buyers cross-shopped as an EV alternative to the RAV4 hybrid).
• BYD Atto 1: 871 sales.
• MG 4: 1,015 sales.
• Kia EV5: 572 sales.
• BYD Seal: 769 sales.
• BYD Atto 3: 677 sales.
• BYD Dolphin: 645 sales.

Model-level counts above are from The Driven’s monthly tracker, which reconciles VFACTS with direct-sale reporting for Tesla and Polestar. FCAI’s own release does not publish per-model EV counts.

The year-to-date order for BEVs is now Model Y (20,396), Sealion 7 (12,516), Geely EX5 (6,756), Omoda Jaecoo J5 (5,976), Zeekr 7X (5,532), BYD Atto 2 (5,401), BYD Atto 1 (3,254), Tesla Model 3 (3,192), BYD Atto 3 (3,052) and Kia EV5 (2,951). Six of the top ten are Chinese-brand vehicles.

What the FCAI and EVC actually said

FCAI chief executive Tony Weber described 2026 as a “turning point” for the industry, citing the pace of the shift from combustion to electric and hybrid drivetrains. His release avoided naming brands.

EVC chief executive Julie Delvecchio was more direct: “Electric vehicles are now competing head-to-head with Australia’s legacy manufacturers and winning because they’re cheaper to run, there are more models to choose from than ever before and they’re better to drive.” She also flagged the caveat that any market analyst will need to hold in mind for the second half: “Some of this month’s strength reflects unique conditions — end of financial year sales, and pre-ordered deliveries arriving. These conditions aren’t likely to repeat anytime soon.”

That is worth taking seriously. June is habitually the strongest month of the Australian financial year for new-vehicle sales, and shipping cadence from Chinese exporters has been unusually favourable this quarter.

What we don’t know / what to watch

There are a few things the data does not tell us cleanly.

Fleet vs private mix. VFACTS reports total registrations but does not split private-buyer purchases from fleet, novated-lease and rental deals in its public release. The federal Electric Car Discount (FBT exemption) remains a substantial driver of novated-lease demand, and any softening there — either through legislative change or a run-out of the Model 3 / Sealion 7 order banks — would slow the July–September run-rate materially.

The Tesla EOFY effect. Tesla’s global end-of-quarter push tends to produce large June and September delivery months in Australia, and lighter months on either side. The Model Y’s 8,072-unit June should not be extrapolated to a monthly average.

PHEV endurance. June’s 158% year-on-year jump in plug-in hybrid sales is remarkable, but it is coming off a very small base and appears to be heavily concentrated in the BYD Shark 6 and Sealion 6. Whether PHEVs stabilise near 10% of the market or subside once EV supply catches up is genuinely open.

Brand-race resolution. Whether BYD actually overtakes Toyota in an individual month during H2 depends more on shipping schedules than underlying demand. The half-year gap of ~43,000 units means Toyota remains comfortably ahead for CY2026 unless something structural changes.

The July VFACTS release is due in the first week of August. That will be the first month without EOFY tailwinds and will tell us how much of June’s electrification signal is durable trend versus timing artefact.

Related on EV Drives: our reviews of the BYD Sealion 7 and the Tesla Model Y; or compare the Sealion 7 against the Model Y directly.