THE March 2018 VFACTS report has landed, and the Ford Ranger has reclaimed pole position on both the monthly and year-to-date 4×4 sales charts.

Ford shifted 3467 Ranger 4×4 variants in March to notch up 9457 YTD sales, while Toyota sold 3224 Hilux 4x4s for a YTD sales total of 9361.

The Mitsubishi Triton 4×4 yet again rounds out the top three, with 2788 monthly and 5735 YTD sales. There’s then daylight to the rest of the field.

The LCV market as a whole was down 0.4 per cent in March, but sales of ute and cab chassis models were up 3.2 per cent compared to March 2017. The LCV segment represents 19.7 per cent of the total market.

Speaking of the overall market, record sales (106,988) were recorded for the month of March, delivering 4.4 per cent Q1 growth (and 1.5 per cent growth was noted for March 2018 compared to March 2017).

“To have the market at 4.4 per cent ahead of last year’s record total is a clear vote of consumer confidence in the economy’s stability and low interest rates, both key factors which encourage private buyers and businesses into new vehicles,” Tony Weber, the chief executive of the FCAI, said.

The Toyota Hilux – 4×4 and 4×2 variants – remains the best-selling vehicle on the overall monthly sales charts (4348). It’s followed by the Ford Ranger (4064), Toyota Corolla (3218), Mitsubishi Triton (3109) and Mazda3 (2780).

u00a04×4Mar 2018Feb 20182018 Total
1Ford Ranger346730989457
2Toyota Hilux322432579361
3Mitsubishi Triton278816345735
4Toyota Prado167713234169
5Holden Colorado12958973459
6Toyota Land Cruiser wagon127610853288
7Nissan Navara126014604043
8Isuzu D-MAX12338512762
9Toyota Land Cruiser PU/CC8727032157
10Volkswagen Amarok8355731842