The Toyota RAV4 has landed an early jab and been revealed as the best-selling vehicle in Australia last month, with 5076 examples landing on local driveways compared to the 4254 Ford Rangers.
The RAV4’s position at the top follows on from a hugely successful 2024 that saw it take silver behind the Ranger after a stellar second half of the year.
Some 952 units behind the Ford, its nemesis, the Toyota Hilux, chalked up 3302 deliveries to round out the top three ahead of its Prado stablemate (2847) and ever-present Mitsubishi Outlander (2090).
Positions six-through-10 were occupied by the Isuzu D-Max (2086), Mazda CX-5 (1872), Kia Sportage (1826), Ford Everest (1679) and Mazda CX-3 (1608) respectively.
Seven of the top 10 best-selling models posted positive growth over the corresponding month last year – the best January on record – which is a stark contrast against the down-trending overall market, with January 2025 being the sixth month of negative growth since the start of FY2024/25.
According to the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries’ (FCAI) latest round of VFacts data, 86,804 new vehicles were registered last month, marking a downturn of 3.3 per cent year-on-year and attributable to the ongoing cost-of-living crisis.
Unsurprisingly Toyota still rules the roost in terms of the most popular brands, netting itself a dominant 21.2 per cent share of the market with 18,424 new registrations compared to Mazda’s 8322.
Behind Mazda was Ford (6830), Kia (5720), Mitsubishi (5681), Hyundai (5478), MG (3740), GWM (3433), Nissan (3035) and Subaru (2924).
As for the electrified market, hybrids and plug-in hybrids continued their upward charge (+55.5%, +88.5%) and accounted for 19.3 per cent of all new-vehicle sales last month whereas EV sales were down almost 39 per cent.
“Sales of battery electric vehicles were remarkably low and based on data from all sources, EVs accounted for just 4.4 per cent of sales, the lowest since October 2022,” FCAI CEO Tony Weber said.
“This is a major concern because consumers are turning away from EVs at the time the Commonwealth Government has introduced the New Vehicle Efficiency Standard (NVES).”
Weber encouraged the Government to “reconsider the steps it can take to build consumer confidence in EVs” if it wants to meet its “ambitious NVES targets”.
Medium SUVs continue as the most popular vehicle class in Australia (20,591) ahead of pick-up trucks (15,679) and small SUVs (14,480).
Best-selling models of January 2025
Toyota RAV4 – 5076
Ford Ranger – 4254
Toyota Hilux – 3302
Toyota Prado – 2847
Mitsubishi Outlander – 2090
Isuzu D-Max – 2086
Mazda CX-5 – 1872
Kia Sportage – 1826
Ford Everest – 1679
Mazda CX-3 – 1608
Best-selling brands of January 2025
Toyota – 18,424
Mazda – 8322
Ford – 6830
Kia – 5720
Mitsubishi – 5681
Hyundai – 5478
MG – 3740
GWM – 3433
Nissan – 3035
Subaru – 2924
This article originally appeared on carsales.com.au
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