Toyota’s RAV4 has pushed the Ford Ranger out of the top spot of the most popular vehicles, driven by strong hybrids sales which have almost doubled in July.
In the latest confirmation of sales trends from the FCAI shows hybrid vehicles are up 88.4 per cent in July while full electric vehicles have slowed slightly at 6.6 per cent of the market, down from 7.0 per cent in 2023.
The rise in EVs has slowed slightly but overall figures for 2024 still show a 8.7 per cent increase over the same time last year. The monthly FCAI figures do not include brands Tesla or Polestar.
But it was hybrids that continue to improve with total sales almost double 2023, with new vehicles just short of 100,000 vehicles so far this year.
The RAV4 was a surprise top seller in April when it jumped into top spot ahead of a long standing duel between the Ford Ranger and the Toyota HiLux and in July it outsold both by more than 1000 units to a total of almost 6000 cars.
Of the r 5,933 RAV4s sold, 93.4 per cent of those were hybrids with other Toyota brands also dominated by hybrid technology including the Camry (94.5 per cent), Corolla sedan and hatch (96 per cent) and Corolla Cross (99.4 per cent).
The overall market for new vehicles is a new July record of 99,486 sales, 2.7 per cent higher than the July 2023 result.
FCAI Chief Executive Tony Weber said the result would have exceeded 100,000 if Tesla and Polestar sales were included in the VFACTS numbers.
“This is a remarkable achievement in an economy featuring widespread cost of living pressures. It was also interesting to note that while sales in the Business and Government segments were up 13.7 per cent and 37.5 per cent respectively, Private sales were down 4.2 per cent,” Weber says.
“While the first seven months of 2024 have exceeded expectations, the industry remains cautious about the future pending the implementation of the New Vehicle Efficiency Standard coupled with the economic conditions.”
The EV lobby remained undaunted by the slowing in sales and says Australia is on track to hit a record 100,000 electric vehicles in 2024.
Electric Vehicle Council chief executive Samantha Johnson said that the increasing sales were encouraging and acknowledged the long road ahead.
“Australia has never had so many electric vehicles on the roads. It was a record breaking quarter for combined battery and plug-in electric vehicle sales,” Johnson says.
“These sales figures are without precedent, which is extremely encouraging given the broader economic pressures with high interest rates and the cost of living limiting people’s ability to purchase new cars.
“These figures demonstrate that Australians want more electric cars and governments need to listen to this demand by continuing to provide support for electric vehicles. We have seen several states prematurely withdraw incentives – it is critical that governments implement targeted programs that enable more Australian households and businesses to make the switch to electric vehicles.”
Toyota continued its unbroken decades-long streak as the the market leader with sales of 22,705 in July, followed by Mazda (8,476), Ford (7,749,) Kia (6,620) and Hyundai (6,021).
The Toyota RAV4 was Australia’s top selling vehicle with sales of 5,933 in July followed by Ford Ranger (4,915), Toyota HiLux (4,747), Toyota Corolla (2,688) and Toyota Landcruiser (2,464).