Market delivers mixed message on sales

Toyota continues to dominate Australian sales, the RAV4 missing out on second overall by just two units

THE up-and-down nature of the new vehicle market continued in October, with monthly sales increasing over 2024, while the year-to-date figure shows an overall market decrease.

Unsurprisingly, Toyota (19,726 units) and Ford (7,570 units) continue to lead the way, although both recorded decreases in year-on-year figures, with Mazda (7,140 units) remaining a close third.

KIA (6,610 units) and Hyundai (6,403 units) both grew their October results to hold fourth and fifth respectively, while sixth-placed Mitsubishi (4,714 units) showed an overall decrease, despite an increase in Triton sales.

GWM (4,431 units) and BYD (3,959 units) were the top-performing Chinese brands, followed by MG (3,556 units) and Isuzu Ute (3,354 units), a good result for a company with only two models in the product range.

Individual model sales backed these results, Toyota’s HiLux (4,444 units) remained ahead of the Ford Ranger (4,402 units), with the RAV4 (4,401 units) falling just two sales short of making it a Toyota 1-2 for the month.

The Ford Everest (2,435 units) continues its strong sales performance in fourth position, while the updated LandCruiser range (2,090 units) has found its sales feet, completing a Toyota/Ford lockout of the top five models.

Hyundai returned to the top 10 with the sixth-placed Kona (2,057 units), followed by the Chery Tiggo 4 Pro (1,975 units), Isuzu D-Max (1,896 units), Mazda’s perennial top-10 finisher, the CX-5 (1,813 units) and the improving Mitsubishi Triton (1,770 units).

Ford’s continuing reliance on the Ranger/Everest, Mustang and Transit ranges highlights a weakness for the big American, any decline in those markets would leave its second place position in serious jeopardy.

Hybrids (HEV) and plug-in hybrids (PHEV) continue to grow in popularity, although this may be a reflection of availability, with more manufacturers either debuting new models or re-engineering existing models to include hybrid options.

Interestingly, full electric vehicles (BEV) retained a 7.3% market share. with an increase in 1,471 vehicles year-on-year, although the year-to-date figure shows a fall of 7,868 vehicles in a potentially stagnating market.

The heavy vehicle market continues to slow, with October deliveries down 13.4% compared to 2024, although after consecutive years of record sales, Tony McMullan, CEO of the Truck Industry Council (TIC) said this may be a reflection of the cyclical nature of heavy vehicle sales.

“Given that 2025 follows four years of record, or near record, sales growth and noting, historically, heavy vehicle sales are cyclic, we are likely witnessing a naturally cooling market as seen in the past and aligned with other business sector declines witnessed currently across Australia,” Mr McMullan said.

“The year-to-date result is not such good news across any of the truck and van segments, however this year the Heavy Duty sector has been the hardest hit segment.”

The heavy duty segment reduced by 301 units compared to October 2024, a 19.7% drop, although the light duty market increased in the same period, growing by 40 units to 1,353 compared to October 2024.

“The October result continues the downward trend that we have witnessed for the majority of 2025, though the sales decline has stabilised over the past few months,” Mr McMullan said.

“However, the market remains on track for around 45,000 new truck and van sales in 2025 and that would be the third best ever sales result recorded for the heavy vehicle market in Australia.”