VFACTS October: Ford Ranger closes gap to Toyota HiLux in record market

Almost all of Australia’s leading car brands are back up and firing as supply chain blockages ease and long-awaited customer orders are fulfilled, helping the industry to another all-time-high monthly new-vehicle sales result in October – the fifth such record posted in the past six months.

Across the board, 106,809 vehicles were sold last month, marking a 22.3 per cent increase over October 2022 and sending year-to-date volume past the all-important one-million-unit mark (to 1,006,095) – a rise of 12.0 per cent YTD and the first time ever a seven-digit running total has been seen before November.

Toyota is leading the charge, selling twice as many cars as its nearest competitor last month – 20,298 (+11.2%) to Mazda on 9316 (+61.3%) – but the Ford Ranger ute is still threatening to topple the Toyota HiLux as the nation’s favourite model this year.

Ranger won the battle in October with 6215 sales compared to 5766 for HiLux, closing the gap to just 779 units with two months of frenetic trading left to run.

The Blue Oval brand’s Aussie-developed ute was also a clear leader in the 4x4 pick-up/cab-chassis segment last month and is more than 5000 units clear in this category, which is the second most popular segment behind mid-size SUVs.

The Isuzu D-MAX ute made it a ute trifecta among the top models in October, racking up 3198 sales to outmuscle the Toyota RAV4 (2598) – now back as the top-selling mid-size SUV in Australia, for the month and YTD – as well as the MG ZS (2537), Mazda CX-5 (2509), the evergreen Toyota Prado (2320), Mitsubishi Outlander (2238), Ford Everest (1803) and Hyundai Tucson (1762).

No mention of Tesla? Yup. The leading EV brand, which is still in eighth position overall this year, had a quiet month as deliveries of Australia’s top-selling electric car (and, up until now, the number-one mid-size SUV), the Tesla Model Y, eased back to 810 units.

The Model 3 sedan made up some of the shortfall (1178) with run-out specials attracting interest while orders are placed for the facelifted model due to arrive early next year.

Tesla’s 1988 sales last month saw it fall to 14th place, despite being 79.3 per cent ahead of October 2022, but it’s likely to be a blip on the radar for one of the fastest-growing brands in the marketplace.

All told, Tesla sales are up 164.2 per cent this year – placing it second only to Cupra (+385.1%) in the growth stakes – and this month it will crack 40,000 sales for the year (39,985 YTD).

Kia was the only leading brand in negative territory last month, slipping to seventh on the Top 10 table with 5647 sales (-11.5%), but is holding down fourth for the year to date with a slim advantage of 1192 units over compatriot Korean brand Hyundai, which was a solid fourth in October (6620, +25.2%).

Ford will be difficult to remove from a podium placing come December 31, adding another 8605 sales last month (+10.0%) as Ranger and Everest accounted for an incredible 93.2 per cent of the brand’s total sales last month.

As Kia and Hyundai fight for fourth, Mitsubishi and MG are similarly slugging it out for sixth, the Japanese brand holding sway last month and taking fifth at Kia’s expense with 6395 sales (+6.9%) – just ahead of MG on 6102 (+21.3%), which is pushing hard with deals on ZS and also found 1000-plus units combined from its new MG4 EV (751) and MG5 small car (355).

Volkswagen and Nissan’s return to form continued in October, the long-established brands taking eighth (4361, +36.3%) and 10th (3756, +201.2%) position respectively, split by Isuzu Ute in ninth (4160, +45.2%).

Volkswagen shifted 1024 Amarok utes last month, while Nissan’s top seller was the new X-TRAIL mid-size SUV (1210).

Subaru (3603 +55.4%), in 11th place last month, is still sitting ninth overall for the year to date, behind Tesla but ahead of Isuzu Ute.

BMW was the leading prestige brand in October with 2470 sales (+28.8%), ahead of Tesla, Audi (1933, +50.7%) and Mercedes-Benz Cars (1783, +3.7%).

Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) chief executive Tony Weber today described the latest sales results as “testament to the unwavering demand for a wide array of vehicles across various price brackets”.

“The Australian market has demonstrated incredible strength and vitality throughout 2023, culminating in Australia reaching one million sales in October for the first time,” said Weber.

“After some challenging years through COVID, this milestone speaks to the range of vehicles available to consumers, affirming Australia’s position as one of the world’s most dynamic and competitive markets.

“It also reflects vastly improved supply chains.”

SUVs accounted for 55.5 per cent of total sales last month (59,259, +22.3%), proving more than twice as popular as light commercials at 24.0 per cent (25,681, +19.7%) and passenger cars at 16.5 per cent (17,616, +32.2%), the latter showing green shoots this year as the new wave of EVs and budget Chinese cars move into sedan and hatch segments.

There were 15,112 Chinese-built new cars sold in Australia last month, taking the year-to-date total to 160,396 to maintain its position as the fourth most popular country of origin behind Japan (284,876) and Thailand (213,225).

With Tesla sales softening, total EV sales were naturally also well down, with 6057 electric car sales recorded across all brands combined.

That compares to 9187 hybrid car sales, 1738 plug-in hybrids, 35,970 diesel cars (not including heavy commercials) and 49,604 traditional petrol-engined models.

Top 10 vehicles (October 2023):

Top 10 brands (2023 year to date):

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