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The Mustang has regained a commanding lead in Australian sports-car sales – far ahead of BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Subaru, and Mazda – but a recent recall has jammed the brakes.
The Ford Mustang has returned to the top of the Australian sports-car sales charts, with a new model attracting demand not seen in seven years.
It is despite sales slowing to a trickle in recent months due to a now-cleared stop-delivery notice, issued after it was found that water could enter the Mustang's central computer and cause exterior lights to fail.
Data published by the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) reports 4052 new Mustangs as sold in 2025, the first full year for the latest-generation 'S650' model – and its best result since 6412 were handed over in 2018.
It is a 177 per cent increase on 2024's sales, when a break between old and new Mustangs allowed the BMW 2 Series Coupe to claim the title of Australia's top-selling sports car, with 1565 deliveries.
The 2 Series was pushed to second place in 2025, with 1175 sales, ahead of the Mercedes-Benz CLE – 934, up 87.2 per cent as it launched part-way through 2024 – and the Mazda MX-5 (821, up 24 per cent).
The Mustang's 2025 result is its best since 6412 examples were sold in 2018, but it is well down on its record of 9165 vehicles in 2017.
Deliveries have now resumed, as evidenced by 340 reported sales in December, up from 10 in November.
Sales will also not have been helped by steep price rises over the intervening years – including a $5000 hike last year, due in part to new emissions rules – that sees a Mustang GT V8 automatic coupe now start from $87,990 plus on-road costs.
It is up from $80,902 at the current model's launch in late 2024, $67,390 five years ago, and $59,990 in 2017.
The near-$30,000 hike has been accompanied by a new-generation model with more power, technology, and safety – as well as inflation over the past eight years – but it has pushed the Mustang into new territory on price.
Exclude the Mustang, and the most affordable end of the sports-car market – the MX-5, BRZ, GR86, Nissan Z and Mini – has largely flattened in 2025, up only 3.4 per cent year-on-year.
It is thanks to growth for the Mazda, Toyota and Mini, which outweighed a slump for the BRZ.
Sports-car sales are considered to have what is dubbed a 'half-life', where new models sell best at the start of their life cycles – snapped up by enthusiast buyers awaiting their arrival – before interest wanes as fans who want the car already own one.
The next price category up – classified as the $90,000 to $200,000 bracket in Australian new-car sales data – was down 23.5 per cent year-on-year, while the top end of town, models in the 'over $200,000' class, were down 2.9 per cent.
Alex Misoyannis has been writing about cars since 2017, when he started his own website, Redline. He contributed for Drive in 2018, before joining CarAdvice in 2019, becoming a regular contributing journalist within the news team in 2020. Cars have played a central role throughout Alex’s life, from flicking through car magazines at a young age, to growing up around performance vehicles in a car-loving family. Highly Commended - Young Writer of the Year 2024 (Under 30) Rising Star Journalist, 2024 Winner Scoop of The Year - 2024 Winner
