VFACTS February: Toyota RAV4 does it again

The Toyota RAV4 has maintained its position at the top of Australian sales charts for another month, however the overall market has stooped nearly 10 per cent year-on-year.

Some 94,993 new vehicles were registered last month compared to the 105,023 in February 2024, equating to a 9.6 per cent dip the industry has attributed to the ongoing cost of living pressures that continue to bite households across the country.

Of those 94,993 vehicles, 4405 of them were Toyota RAV4s, which continued to spit in the face of the Ford Ranger (4040) and Toyota Hilux (3616), not to mention the rest of the market.

Rounding out the top five best-sellers last month were the Toyota Prado (2723) and ever-present Mitsubishi Outlander (2385) which in turn led the BYD Shark 6 (2026), Isuzu D-Max (2022), Mazda CX-5 (1932), Kia Sportage (1927) and Hyundai Kona (1889).

It perhaps shouldn’t come as a surprise to learn Toyota was and will seemingly forever be the dominant force from a brand perspective, netting 20.5 per cent of the market with 37,256 new registrations in February compared to Mazda’s 17,119 (9.4%) and Ford’s 13,167 (7.2%).

Something that is coming as a surprise to and increasingly concerning the industry is the accelerating downward trend of EV sales despite the presence and implementation of the Government’s New Vehicle Efficiency Standard or NVES.

Even though there are now 88 battery-electric models available in Australia, EVs only accounted for 5.6 per cent (3967 units) of last month’s sales tally compared to the 9.6 per cent share they occupied in February last year.

This data is of course excluding EV stalwart Tesla and premium challenger Polestar, though the former’s sales plunged nearly 72 per cent last month with just 1592 new Model Ys and Model 3s delivered – vs 5665 last February.

How much of this is to do with Elon Musk’s recent antics remains to be seen, but there’s no denying EV demand is plummeting, much to the perplexment of the industry.

“We knew the supply of EVs would increase and there are now 88 models supplied to the Australian market,” Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries CEO Tony Weber said.

“However, our grave concern has always been the rate of EV adoption and what assumptions the Government had made in its modelling around consumer demand for EVs in the NVES. This modelling remains secret.

“The easy part is to set aspirational targets but without consumers demanding EVs, the NVES will not succeed.”

“It is time for the Government to consider the realities faced by consumers,” declared Weber.

Hybrid and plug-in hybrid sales, by contrast, are continuing to boom – up 34.7% and 346% respectively year-on-year – while SUVs continue to rule the roost ahead of light commercials in terms of vehicle classes.

Best-selling models of February 2025
Toyota RAV4 – 4405
Ford Ranger – 4040
Toyota Hilux – 3616
Toyota Prado – 2723
Mitsubishi Outlander – 2385
BYD Shark 6 – 2026
Isuzu D-Max – 2022
Mazda CX-5 – 1932
Kia Sportage – 1927
Hyundai Kona – 1889

Best-selling brands of February 2025
Toyota – 37,256
Mazda – 17,119
Ford – 13,167
Kia – 12,427
Mitsubishi – 11,800
Hyundai – 11,473
MG – 7479
GWM – 7186
Nissan – 6594
Subaru – 6435

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