VFACTS May: HiLux wins again

The new car sales figures for May 2025 have rolled in and show that Australians are still buying cars, just not quite as enthusiastically as a year ago.

The Toyota HiLux was the best-seller for a second consecutive month, while the Ford Ranger was in second place, trailing by only 191 sales.

The Toyota RAV4 completed the new car sales podium for May 2025 snaffling third place, showing its evergreen appeal, which bodes well ahead of an all-new 2026 RAV4 coming next year.

* Tables don’t include Tesla or Polestar numbers

The Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) reckons the market's still ‘resilient and competitive’ and looking pretty healthy by historical standards, even if the numbers took a modest dive.

The FCAI reports that Aussie new car buyers bought 105,285 new cars in May 2025 – down 5.2 per cent from the same month last year.

However, when Tesla and Polestar figures are rolled into the mix, overall sales are down by a much smaller percentage, around 1.6 per cent, taking total monthly sales to 109,425 – which is still the second-best May on record after 2024’s strong result of 111,245.

In the individual vehicle stakes, it's still Toyota's world and we're all just living in it.

The HiLux topped the charts with 4952 sales, just ahead of the Ford Ranger's 4761.

Which makes one wonder, what the sales gap will be like when the new-generation Toyota HiLux lands in showrooms in the first half of 2026?

Neverthless, the Toyota RAV4 grabbed third place with 4003 sales while the facelifted Tesla Model Y Juniper fired resolutely into the top five for the month, with 3580 sales and fourth place (versus the Model 3’s 318 units).

The Toyota Prado rounded out the top five with 2732 sales.

Three out of five ain't bad for Toyota – unless you're Ford and Mazda in second and third place overall, watching Toyota monopolise Australia's driveways.

Indeed, Toyota dominated with 22.4 per cent of sales for the month (23,576 units), leaving Ford trailing in second place with 8% market share (8464) – that's a gap of 15,112 sales or 14.4 percentage points.

Mazda had 7.5% market share (7845) in May 2025, follow by Kia’s 6.6% (6903) and Hyundai's 6.4% (6708), rounding out the top five. Of the top five, only Toyota and Hyundai recorded small percentage increases compared to May 2024.

The other half of the top 10 was filled by Mitsubishi (4766) in sixth place, followed by Isuzu Ute (4286), GWM (4272), Tesla (3897) and MG (3270) in that order. Of these brands, all of them recorded falls compared to May 2024 except for GWM and Tesla, which saw solid gains of 11.8% and 9.3% respectively.

Another big takeaway from the latest sales figures is that SUVs are absolutely crushing it.

They now represent more than 60% of all new vehicle sales compared to 55.8% in 2024. At this rate, sedans and hatchbacks might need their own wildlife conservation program, as SUVs close in on taking up two out of every three new car sales in 2025.

Electric car sales also cracked the 10,000 barrier for the first time since March 2024, jumping 10.4% year-on-year and grabbing 9.2% of the total market, largely helped by the Tesla Model Y, which accounted for around one third of EV sales nationally last month.

Despite the slight dip in overall sales, the FCAI’s Chief Executive Tony Weber reckons the market's still looking pretty healthy by historical standards.

The FCAI is also pushing hard for a proper trade deal with the European Union that could finally kill off the ancient Luxury Car Tax and ditch the 5% tariff on EU vehicles.

Weber's calling for ‘future-focused’ trade policies – which is diplomatic speak for ‘please stop making European cars unnecessarily expensive’.

“Australia’s automotive sector strongly encourages all participants to deliver a trade outcome that is future-focused rather than prolonging outdated and inefficient policy arrangements, and one that allows Australians to share in world-leading mobility, safety and environmental technologies at the lowest possible prices,” said the FCAI boss.

Join the conversation at our Facebook page
Or email us at editor@carsales.com.au