The venerable Toyota HiLux ute has been Australia’s top-selling vehicle for seven years in a row and is the leader with one month left in 2023.
But it has a serious challenge on its hands to keep the crown, with its Ford Ranger arch-rival getting very close in its rear-view mirror.
The Ford nabbed 6301 sales in November compared to 5901 for the Toyota, narrowing the year-to-date sales gap to an achievable 379 units.
YTD the Toyota HiLux has managed 55,968 sales compared to 55,589 sales for the faster-finishing Ford. This is an incredibly close tally given the sheer volume both vehicles manage.
The trends suggest the Ford may just nab the title. Across 2023 Toyota HiLux sales are down 7.0 per cent over 2022 whereas Ford Ranger sales are up 29.8 per cent, thanks to the launch of a new-generation model and better supply.
It was only in August this year that Ford Australia announced it had enlisted a chartered car carrier to get more Rangers into its dealer network, and to address quarantine deadlocks.
Regardless of whether Ford gets the bragging rights or not, the Ranger definitely has the ‘richer’ mix. It leads the higher-margin 4×4 race this year with 50,902 sales versus 44,548 for the HiLux. Toyota is still the king of the 4×2 trayback with 11,420 sales YTD compared to 4687 Rangers.
All up this year, utes or pickups account for more than 20 per cent of the total Australian new car market.
It’s not just the HiLux and Ranger doing such heavy lifting, either. There’s also the Isuzu D-Max with 28,369 sales YTD, making it the outright third top-selling vehicle ahead of the MG ZS (27,736), Toyota RAV4 (27,435), and Tesla Model Y (27,418).
Top-selling utes January to November
- Toyota HiLux: 55,968
- Ford Ranger: 55,589
- Isuzu D-Max: 28,369
- Mazda BT-50: 16,238
- Mitsubishi Triton: 15,287
- Toyota LandCruiser 70: 10,331
- GWM Ute: 8641
- LDV T60: 8334
- Nissan Navara: 7932
- Ram 1500-3500: 6484
- Volkswagen Amarok: 5693
- SsangYong Musso: 3217
- Chevrolet Silverado: 3036
- Jeep Gladiator: 748
