VFACTS May: Toyota HiLux pips Ford Ranger in sales race

The Toyota HiLux fought back to the top of the sales charts in May, shading arch-rival ute, the Ford Ranger.

According to official VFACTS figures released today, Toyota took five of the top 10 sales positions as the market surged to its highest monthly figure in 2021, with 100,809 registrations recorded.

That surpasses the March result of 100,005 sales and sets the Aussie market on track to return to more than one million annual sales after the COVID-driven downturn of 2020.

May 2021 is 68.3 per cent ahead of May 2020 when just 59,894 sales were recorded as heavy restrictions related to the pandemic took hold across Australia.

But it’s also well ahead of pre-pandemic May 2019 (92,561) and lineball with May 2018 (100,754).

Year to date, there have been 456,804 new vehicle registrations in Australia compared to 332,181 over the same five-month period in 2020. That’s a lift of 37.8 per cent. The 2021 number is also ahead of 2019 (436,649), when the market was slowing, but behind 2018 (475,222)

Toyota totalled 21,156 registrations in May as it doubled number-two-seller Mazda for the month, with Kia leaping to third on the back of strong SUV and Cerato small car sales, ahead of Ford, Mitsubishi and Hyundai.

Isuzu Ute Australia is celebrating a record month in May, with 3946 sales pushing it into ninth place, primarily on the back of a record 3058 sales of the Isuzu D-MAX. The previous IUA record was 3566 sales in June 2017 and the previous D-MAX record was 2422 sales in December 2020.

It could potentially have been higher, too, with supply hampering deliveries of the D-MAX, with IUA director of sales and marketing Koichiro Yoshida saying “we’re extremely humbled by the ongoing positive response towards the new Isuzu D-MAX and would like to thank our customers for their ongoing support and patience as we deliver vehicle orders as quickly as possible”.

IUA’s stellar month bumped MG out of the 10 into 11th. However, the rising Chinese brand still recorded 3506 May sales to keep it in the top 10 overall.

MG also had the top-selling small SUV in Australia last month – the MG ZS (1605), which also leads the pack for the year to date – and continues to dominate the light hatch class with the MG 3 (1194).

Among the top-selling models across all categories, Toyota HiLux returned to the top of the list with 4402 sales in May, the Ford Ranger was close behind with 4254 sales and the Toyota RAV4 was third on 4014 sales.

Also included in Toyota’s hit parade was the Toyota LandCruiser family in fourth outright, the vast majority of its 3399 sales contributed by the red-hot run-out LC200 diesel V8 4x4 SUV. That’s a 59.4 per cent leap compared with May 2020. The new LC300 will be revealed June 10.

Year-to-date Toyota has accrued 97,877 sales and a 21.4 per cent market share, basically doubling Mazda with 48,221 sales and a 10.6 per cent share. Mitsubishi, Hyundai and Kia complete the top five.

The HiLux sits atop the overall sales charts on a YTD basis when 4x4 and 4x2 sales are combined, but Ranger, which was recently judged the Best Dual-Cab 4x4 Ute 2021, remains the top-selling 4x4 ute – just.

Of course, Toyota wasn’t the only brand to have big success in a buoyant market in May. Mazda had record CX-30 and CX-8 sales, although neither threatened the top 10 overall. The stalwart Mazda CX-5 medium SUV had its best May to be sixth on the sales charts.

In the battle of the German luxury brands BMW edged out Mercedes-Benz 2707 sales to 2526, while Audi was a distant third (1707).

Other Chinese brands also had a solid month. GWM (now combining GWM Ute and Haval SUV brands) performed slightly better than April (1494 v 1480 sales), but it’s up a mammoth 356 per cent year-on-year (5489 v 1480 sales) as new models impact.

Australia continued a glacial adoption of electric vehicles in May, with just 436 registered, not including Tesla. At least that’s way up on 2020 when 103 EV sales were record in May.

Hybrids more than doubled to 7105 year-on-year and 245 plug-in hybrids were sold in May 2021, compared to 118 in May 2020.

Overall, the SUV segment continues to dominate Australian new vehicle sales, now with a 52.3 per share. Utes and other commercials also edge ahead of the passenger car segment, claiming 23 per cent versus 21.3 per cent. Heavy commercials account for the last 3.4 per cent.

Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries chief executive Tony Weber said the May result once again showed that confidence in the national economy and pent-up demand across all sectors were strong enough to counter issues related to COVID-19 uncertainties and supply chain issues.

“While we cannot be certain about the future economic impacts of the COVID-19 situation, businesses and households are showing their confidence by purchasing new vehicles,” he said.

“I expect this situation will continue to improve in the second half of this calendar year as confidence continues to grow, coupled with incentives such as the extension of the depreciation allowance for business which was announced in the federal budget during the month.”

Weber added that the rental segment continued to grow with the year-to-date result up 69.4 per cent while private sales were up 50.3 per cent YTD.

“The result also highlights the outstanding efforts by all parties in the supply chain in continuing to meet the demands of their of their customers in the face of ongoing challenges such as the shortage of microprocessors and shipping delays,” he said.

Top 10 brands (2021 year to date):
Toyota – 97,877
Mazda – 48,221
Mitsubishi – 31,802
Hyundai – 31,277
Kia – 30,004
Ford – 29,427
Nissan – 19,946
Subaru – 17,072
Volkswagen – 16,217
MG – 15,241

Top 10 vehicles (May 2021):
Toyota HiLux – 4402
Ford Ranger – 4254
Toyota RAV4 – 4014
Toyota LandCruiser – 3399
Isuzu D-MAX – 3058
Mazda CX-5 – 2768
Mitsubishi Triton – 2317
Toyota Prado – 2214
Toyota Corolla – 2190
Hyundai i30 – 2127