The cars Australians should buy in 2026

Perhaps your New Year’s resolution was to finally get a new car. Well, allow us to steer you in the right direction.

As more and more auto brands flood the Australian market, some cars are increasingly finding themselves trying to keep above water.

Not every car can sell as well as a Toyota Prado or HiLux, but some of these vehicles are selling well below what we’d expect. That means you can buy something you won’t see on every street corner, and potentially score a good deal in the process.

For this exercise, we looked at models that had market share within their respective VFACTS segment of less than five per cent, and for which fewer than 2000 examples were delivered between January 1 and November 30, 2025.

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They also had to be on sale for the whole year, ruling out any recent entrants or discontinued vehicles.

We also weeded out older models confirmed to be replaced by new generations next year, as well as any sports cars, full-size vans, or any models that compete in the Upper Large SUV over $120k and Upper Large car over $100k segments as defined by VFACTS.

That still left us with a huge list of unfairly overlooked vehicles… and perhaps a few where we understand why Australian buyers might be reluctant to take the plunge.

But never mind those, let’s look at the models you need to start buying in 2026.