Your Holden is one in a million! Data reveals Aussie brand’s shrinking numbers

There are still over a million Holden passenger vehicles on Australian roads, according to the latest government data, but the tally is set to fall below that threshold next year, seven years on from the brand’s closure.

The latest registration data from the Bureau of Infrastructure and Transport Research Economics (BITRE) shows there were 1,000,292 Holden passenger vehicles in Australia as of January 2026, making it the fourth most common brand on our roads behind Toyota (3,317,413), Mazda (1,576,072) and Hyundai (1,342,431).

This particular BITRE data looks only at passenger vehicles – including SUVs, but excluding light commercial vehicles such as utes – that were registered for unrestricted public road use in Australia as at January 31, 2026.

BITRE says that "where possible" it has excluded vehicles registered for consular and defence force use, as well as "veteran and vintage vehicles registered for restricted use only".

There were 94,936 fewer Holden cars on the road than in 2025, with last year’s tally down 90,829 on the previous year. That means there’s been a 15.7 per cent reduction in the number of Holden passenger vehicles on Aussie roads since 2024.

This attrition isn’t unusual, given many owners discard their vehicles once the cost of keeping them roadworthy exceeds the value of the vehicle. Vehicles may also be damaged or destroyed in collisions.

Holden hasn’t been the only brand to recede since 2024, according to this latest October 2026 BITRE data.

There were 836,433 registered Ford passenger vehicles in 2026, down from 900,248 in 2024 – a decline of 7.1 per cent.

The number of registered Hondas has shrunk by 2.3 per cent across the same period, with Jeep down by 7.2 per cent to 163,601 vehicles, Nissan down by 1.0 per cent to 808,884 vehicles, Renault down by 3.0 per cent to 64,767 vehicles, and Peugeot dropping 14.5 per cent to 54,367 vehicles.

Despite Peugeot’s drop and its more modest numbers on our roads, it’s still in the top 30 brands for registered passenger vehicles.

There were 22.77 million registered motor vehicles on this date, up 2.1 per cent on January 31, 2025, with 16.4 million of these being passenger vehicles.

A total of 63.7 per cent of all registered motor vehicles were petrol-powered, down from 65.6 per cent, while diesel vehicles increased their share from 29.5 to 29.9 per cent across the same period.

A total of 368,300 electric vehicles (EVs) and hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles (FCEVs) were registered as at January 31, 2026, up 42.3 per cent. EV and FCEV passenger cars accounted for 2.2 per cent of Australia’s total passenger vehicle car parc, with Tesla being the number-one EV brand followed by BYD (56,565 registered passenger EVs in 2026) and MG (23,175).

Hybrids grew in number by 31.7 per cent year-on-year to 846,200 vehicles, while plug-in hybrids tallied 111,300 vehicles, up 101.9 per cent YoY.

The average age across all registered motor vehicles in Australia increased slightly, from 11.55 years in 2025 to 11.67 years in 2026. Tasmania has the oldest average fleet age at 13.8 years, with the Northern Territory having the youngest at 10.81 years.

Top 30 brands for registered passenger vehicles in Australia

You can view the full report at the BITRE website.

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