Toyota Sets New Australian Sales Target as BYD Closes In

Toyota is targeting sales of 230,000 vehicles in Australia for 2026, with half of those expected to be hybrid or low-emission models. The brand has also secured an additional allocation of 10,000 vehicles for the Australian market to boost its total annual deliveries. The Drive website reported on Monday that the automotive giant confirmed last month that Australia would receive an extra 10,000 units of the RAV4, HiLux, and bZ4X models, raising its estimated total annual sales to 220,000 units. “Our demand is very, very strong and we want to work on reducing customer wait times. We have now managed to bring the average customer wait time across our product range down from longer periods to between three and six months. And that is very important to us in a highly competitive market,” said John Pappas, Vice President of Sales, Marketing, and Franchise Operations for Toyota Australia. The additional vehicles will help Toyota maintain its position as the top-selling brand while widening the gap from BYD, which is poised to overtake traditional rivals Ford and Mazda for second place with estimated sales of around 100,000 units this year. Drive reported on Friday that BYD recorded 18,881 sales of electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles in Australia in June, just 243 units shy of Toyota’s 19,124 units, which kept it in the top spot. This performance makes the Chinese manufacturer one of the strongest monthly performers in the Australian automotive market, approaching a historic record previously only achieved by Holden in 2003. Historical new car sales data shows Holden recorded 17,120 sales in June 2003. Other notable monthly records include Mazda with 12,501 units in June 2017, Hyundai with 12,300 units in June 2016, and Ford with 10,103 units in June 2025.