Utes challenge for market

The new-vehicle industry in Australia is celebrating another bumper month of sales after 105,023 units were sold in February, which was up 20.9 per cent from the 86,878 registrations during the same period last year.

Ford’s Ranger, pictured, was the top-selling vehicle across the ditch for the fifth consecutive month after recording 5,353 sales in February, according to the latest figures from the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI). 

It was followed by the Toyota Hilux on 4,403 units, the Tesla Model 3 with 3,593, Isuzu’s Ute D-Max on 2,941 and Toyota’s RAV4 with 2,843 sales.

Toyota was the leading marque in February with 19,374 registrations. Mazda was second on 7,350 and completing the top five was Ford with 7,275, Nissan on 6,617 and Mitsubishi with 6,411.

Tony Weber, FCAI’s chief executive, says Australia’s growing demand for new vehicles has continued into 2024 but he adds a note of caution as the government and industry seek to clean up the fleet.

“Australian motorists’ strong preference for utes, accounting for 20.3 per cent of sales this month, demonstrates the challenges with the proposed New Vehicle Emissions Standard. Out of 21,327 utes sold in February, only one was electric vehicle.”

Battery electric vehicles accounted for 9.6 per cent of sales in February, while one in every five vehicles sold was powered by low emissions technologies.

“Growing sales of electric vehicles across other market segments proves that where a battery electric product exists which suits the driving habits of Australian motorists, work and recreation needs they will purchase these vehicles,” Weber adds.