Used Chinese-brand cars depreciate faster than the market as private listings surge, Carma data shows

Chinese brands losing value faster in the mid-price band

Used Chinese-brand cars priced between $20,000 and $35,000 lost 11.1% of their value in the year to September, against 8.7% for other cars in the same price band, according to online used car retailer Carma. The figures come from Carma's first Used Car Market Report, based on more than 1.8 million Australian listings, as reported by AutoTalk. Carma also found private listings of Chinese-brand cars, including MG, Haval and BYD, rose 58% year-on-year, compared with 13% across the wider market. ¹

Carma chief executive and co-founder Lachlan MacGregor says household budgets remain tight but the market has adjusted to meet buyers. According to AutoTalk's report of the findings, MacGregor says nearly two in three dealer-listed cars sold in September, or 64%, had their price reduced before selling, with a typical reduction of about $1,500. "The market is clearing at more affordable levels, and well-priced stock moves fast," MacGregor says. ¹

The broader used market: busy July, slower dealer sales and cheaper EVs

Beyond the Chinese-brand figures, Carma's report paints a picture of a used market working through soft demand. Carma says July was one of the busiest months for dealers in two years, with about 69,000 used cars leaving the market, yet dealer used cars still took an average of 85 days to sell between July and September. Tesla's Model Y moved in 48 days and the Toyota Aurion in 52, AutoTalk reports. Across the market, the same used car was 6.5% cheaper than in September 2025. ¹

Cheaper electric vehicles featured prominently in the data. EVs under $35,000 made up 26% of used EV sales, up from 13% a year earlier, and almost half of those, 580 of 1,288 sold in September, were near-new dealer demonstrators. Used Tesla values fell 4.0% year-on-year while other EVs fell 9.8%, according to Carma's report. ¹

At the bottom of the market, cars under $20,000 were also picking up pace. Of those listed in July, 62.5% sold within a month, and values in that bracket were 6.9% lower than a year earlier. The Nissan X-Trail fell 14.3% and the Subaru Forester 11.6% over the year, Carma's figures show. Separately, the Australian Automotive Dealer Association reported that used sales rose 6% in September, with dealers' share recovering to 43.9%, AutoTalk notes. ¹

Carify: the used Chinese-car market is growing fast but remains small

A separate analysis by Carify, published in September 2026, puts the used market in a longer-term context. Of the roughly three million used cars listed for sale in Australia this year, 122,441 wear a Chinese badge, a 3.96% share, up from 0.49% in 2021. Carify describes that as roughly eightfold growth in five years, but stresses the gap with new-car share: Chinese brands sold 26.4% of all new vehicles in August 2026, with BYD, GWM, MG, Geely and Chery delivering 26,610 cars that month, and BYD finishing second overall behind Toyota. ⁴

Carify attributes the gap to a timing lag: a car must be bought new, driven for a few years and sold before it appears as a used listing. Lining up the used market by build year makes that visible, the company says. Of 2015-plate cars for sale today, 0.16% are Chinese; by the 2018 plate it is 1.2%, by 2021 it is 6.6%, and by 2022 it is 9.2%, with the 2025 plate above 10%. Carify notes the 2024 plate dips back to 8.4% before the trend resumes. ⁴

Young stock, mostly dealer-held, and no long-term track record

Carify says the typical Chinese-brand car for sale in Australia was built in 2023 and has about 35,000km on it, compared with a 2018-built, 90,000km car for the market overall. More than half of Chinese-badge listings are under three years old, and only 7.5% have passed seven years, where the broader market sits at 57%. Around 90% of Chinese-badge listings come from dealers, with only 6.5% from private sellers, against 13.5% private for the market overall, Carify reports. Just over 20% of Chinese-badged used listings are a hybrid or EV, against 6.8% of the market. ⁴

On resale, Carify's own analysis finds the answer depends on the model rather than the country. Comparing what a three-year-old car asks against a near-new one of the same nameplate, Carify rates the Haval Jolion one of the strongest performers in the market at 95%, with the MG ZST at 93% and the MG HS at 69%, roughly where the Subaru Forester sits. Carify cautions that this measure compares two used prices and moves whenever a brand changes its new-car pricing, noting the MG HS looks weak partly because the 2025 car moved upmarket. The company also notes there is no long-term track record for these models in Australian conditions, with the resale record running about five years deep. ⁴

New-car surge sets the scene

The growing used supply follows a sharp rise in Chinese-sourced new vehicles. Figures released by the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries in February 2026, reported by AutoTalk, showed Chinese-sourced vehicles increased 68.6% year-on-year in January, cementing China as Australia's second-largest source of vehicles behind Japan. The Chery Tiggo 4 Pro was the fourth best-selling model that month with 2,234 registrations. ²

Carify's data shows the brand mix in the used market reflects arrival dates rather than current sales strength. It notes Great Wall arrived in Australia in 2009 as the first Chinese carmaker to sell locally, with MG and LDV landing during the 2010s, and those brands do the heavy lifting in used listings. BYD, by contrast, dominates the new-car charts but has 97% of its 11,261 listings this year under three years old, with a median 2025-built car on 7,288km asking $43,006, figures Carify describes as demonstrators, cancelled orders and cars flipped within a year rather than used cars in any normal sense. ⁴

On pricing, Carify's median asking figures show a 2023 MG 3 at $15,471 and a 2023 MG ZS at $17,888, with a Haval Jolion of the same year at $22,689 and an LDV T60 ute at $29,941, against a 2023 Mazda CX-3 at $25,219 and a Corolla at $29,654. Carma's report, meanwhile, found a two- to three-year-old MG HS selling 45.9% below the drive-away price of a new one, and that across 70 popular models a year-old car typically sold for 14.8%, or $7,399, below the new drive-away price, with year-old Toyota LandCruiser Prados listed just 0.7% below new because of ongoing supply constraints. ¹⁴

Dealer pressure amid rising competition

The competitive environment behind these market shifts was a live issue for the dealer sector earlier in the year. The Australian Automotive Dealer Association called in March 2026 for the Federal Government to deliver its election promise to extend unfair trading protections to franchised new car dealers, AutoTalk reported at the time. AADA chief executive James Voortman said franchised dealers were increasingly facing pressure from multinational manufacturers through unfair trading practices and contract terms that exploit a power imbalance in the sector. The AADA's 2026 Dealernomics report counted 3,868 dealerships nationwide, contributing $21.5 billion in economic activity and employing more than 64,000 people. ³