ONLY nine sales separated the Hilux 4×4 and Ranger 4×4 during May, according to the recent VFACTS report, with Toyota once again standing atop the monthly 4×4 sales podium.

Proving the 4×4 market is once again a two-horse race (much like 2017), the Hilux is also the best-selling 4×4 on the YTD charts, edging out the Ranger by 216 sales. There’s then daylight to the rest of the field. What about the X-Class? With 182 sales, it failed to hit the 4×4 top 20 leaderboard for the month.

1

Sales of 4WD pick-up and cab-chassis variants were up 3.0 per cent last month compared to May 2017, despite an overall dip in the LCV market by 0.5 per cent – which is nothing compared to the 15.6 per cent decline in passenger-car sales.

Overall industry sales were also down on the record-setting May 2017, with 100,754 sales compared to 102,901.

1

“The market is continuing to hold up well year to date, with the past two months of falls offset by the gains recorded in the first quarter,” Tony Weber, chief executive of the FCAI, said. “In the past 12 calendar months there has been almost 1.2 million new vehicles delivered to customers, which is a remarkable achievement.”

The Hilux 4×2/4×4 remains the best-selling vehicle on the overall market, posting 4385 sales in May; while the Ranger 4×2/4×4 is lagging behind in second spot, with 3674 sales.