VFACTS January 2024: Ranger domination continues in the new year

The Ford Ranger has continued where it left off in 2023, remaining the best-selling overall vehicle in Australia in January 2024.

The just-released VFACTs report lists the Ford Ranger as Australia’s most sought-after vehicle with a total of 4747 sales. Of those sales, 4334 were registered for 4×4 variants.

Highlighting Australia’s relentless appetite for bigger SUVs and utes, the next best-selling vehicles in January 2024 on the overall charts were the Toyota HiLux (4092), Toyota LandCruiser (2541) and Isuzu D-MAX (2541).

Looking specifically at the 4×4 charts, and the Ranger remains king, defending its crown with the aforementioned 4334 sales. The HiLux (3478) and D-MAX (2118) round out the podium. The Prado was the best-selling 4×4 SUV in January, posting a total of 1746 sales, positioning it ahead of the 300 Series (1463), Isuzu MU-X (1217) and Ford Everest (1176).

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The LDV T60 had a solid month, with its 950 sales sneaking it into the Top 10. As a budget alternative, it remains more popular than both the GWM Ute (643) and SsangYong Musso (242). At the other end of the price spectrum, the RAM 1500 (290) outsold both the Silverado (264) and F-150 (123).

Surprising absentees from the 10 best-selling 4x4s include the Mazda BT-50 (937), VW Amarok (650) and Nissan Navara (424).

Taking a deeper dive into the numbers reveals that LCV sales are up from 18,546 (January 2023) to 20,601 (January 2024), with the PU/CC 4×4 market in particular strengthening compared to the same time last year (15,966 sales versus 14,144), representing a 17.8 per cent share of the total new sales market. LCVs accounted for 22.9 per cent of total sales – and SUVs 55.5 per cent – in January 2024.

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However, according to FCAI Chief Executive Tony Weber, this represents the challenges the industry is currently facing.

“The continuing preference for SUVs and utes demonstrates the challenges the Commonwealth Government is facing as it works to introduce a New Vehicle Emissions Standard (NVES),” he said. “Industry wants an emissions standard that is ambitious without limiting the choice and increasing the cost of the vehicles Australians need and want.

“Even with the current incentives offered by the Commonwealth and State and Territory Governments, sales of battery electric vehicles appear to have plateaued during recent months.”

In particular, total diesel sales have increased from 26,589 to 28,923 compared to the same time last year – while petrol-powered variants still accounted for a total of 42,247 sales despite declining compared to January 2023 (44,831).