V8 sales hit all-time record in Australia

Australians bought a record number of new V8-powered vehicles over the past decade or so, with almost half a million bent-eight cars finding Aussie homes in the past 12 years, but our enthusiasm for one of the world’s most loved engine configurations is fast waning.

A record 49,674 V8s were snapped up in 2017, representing 4.2 per cent of the entire car market. It was the peak year of the 473,253 V8 vehicles reported as sold between 2010 and 2021.

The spectacular demise of the locally-made V8 muscle car and ongoing moves to downsize engines in the face of rising fuel prices and tightening emissions regulations means V8s are going from mainstream to a declining niche.

This year Australians look set to buy more zero-cylinder vehicles – EVs – than V8s for the first time.

And while it’s tempting to blame the V8 shift on the demise of the Ford Falcon and Holden Commodore, which had V8s as their hero models, there’s another brand that has long set the V8 trend: Toyota.

For a decade Toyota has dominated sales of V8s. Between 2010 and 2021 it sold more V8s in Australia than the other 23 brands that sold V8s here combined.

Since 2017 more than 10 per cent of Toyota’s sales – one in 10 – have been V8s. The Toyota V8 mania peaked in 2021 with 12.2 per cent of all Toyotas sold here powered by a V8.

Whereas the emphasis with most V8s is on high performance, for Toyota it’s about shifting upwards of 2.5 tonnes of LandCruiser and towing heavy loads.

In the overall record V8 year of 2017 Toyota sold 21,729 V8-powered LandCruiser wagons and LandCruiser 70 Series commercial vehicles.

That shades the 13,607 Commodore V8s sold by Holden in its final year manufacturing cars in Australia – when the love of Aussie muscle cars was at its peak.

In that same year the Ford Mustang hit a local sales record of 9165 cars – and 7606 of them were powered by the iconic 5.0-litre V8.

Between the last-ever V8 Commodore and the hugely popular Ford Mustang, the combined V8 sales tally was still outdone by Toyota, which at the same time continued marketing itself as eco-friendly with its growing range of hybrid models.

Only in 2019 did Toyota sell more hybrids than V8s in the modern era. Not that it has slowed the Toyota V8 juggernaut.

Since 2015 Toyota has been growing sales of V8s, reaching a peak of 25,457 sales in 2021.

It’s a record for any brand (V8s have always been popular but were mostly low-volume performance models prior to the 21st century) and a record that’s unlikely to be broken.

The V8 charge for Toyota was led by the LandCruiser 200 Series, which late in 2021 was replaced by the diesel V6-powered LandCruiser 300 Series. That one move has taken about one-third of the annual V8 sales out of the mix.

While the 70 Series continues with V8 power, it’s unlikely to ever break that 2021 sales record on its own.

Some brands that once sold V8s here no longer do. They include Chrysler, Volvo, Volkswagen and, of course, Holden. Others, including Mercedes-Benz, Audi and BMW, are replacing V8s with smaller-capacity engines.

There is still some growth in V8s thanks to the growing number of American pick-up trucks being sold here. RAM is now the second highest-selling V8 brand in Australia, for example, outselling Mercedes-Benz since 2019.

Of the two brands most closely associated with V8 engines in Australia – Ford and Holden – it’s Holden that has dominated with sales.

Even with the arrival of the Mustang late in 2015 – most of which have been V8s – Ford still managed only 33,455 V8 sales between 2010 and 2021.

Holden, on the other hand, notched up 106,890 in the same period.

V8s have long been part of the Australian motoring landscape but were cemented once Ford fitted one to its XR Falcon in 1966, followed by Holden in the HK in 1968.

V8s gained in popularity in the 1970s with a string of high-profile muscle cars and success on the racetrack, especially at Bathurst’s Mount Panorama.

Eight V8 fast facts

New V8 vehicle sales by brand (2010-2021)

Join the conversation at 

our Facebook page

Or email us at 

editor@carsales.com.au