Australian new-car sales in April 2024: Toyota RAV4 leads sixth record VFACTS in a row

Sales of new motor vehicles in Australia are now on their longest streak of growth in at least six years after deliveries in April 2024 were up 18.3 per cent on the same month last year.

Data published by the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) today lists 97,202 new vehicles as sold – a new April record, beating the previous high mark of 92,347 set in 2021.

And in a surprise upset, the Toyota RAV4 beat the Ford Ranger and Toyota HiLux as the top-selling new vehicle.

It is the fourth consecutive month that a sales record has been set – defying warnings from industry analysts last year, as well as car companies such as Toyota, that a slowdown was on the horizon after a surge in demand following the pandemic.

It is an even more surprising result given April is usually one of the slowest months of the year for new-car sales, due to school and public holidays.

As with prior months, the sales data – known as VFACTS – reflects the number of new vehicles delivered, rather than how many orders were placed in April.

Wait times are easing for in-demand models, including the Toyota RAV4 Hybrid – which now faces a six-month estimated wait after a high of two years during the pandemic – and the Ford Ranger V6, now in stock across most models after 12-month waits in late 2022.

However many of the vehicles delivered last month will still have been ordered last year, or in some cases, 2022.

Toyota remained the top-selling new-car brand last month with 20,771 deliveries, up 72.7 per cent on the same month last year – when it recorded a 33 per cent decline due to shipping and production delays.

It was followed by Ford (8648 sales, up 71.3 per cent) ahead of long-time second-placed finisher Mazda (7301 sales, up 5.4 per cent), with Kia (6653 sales, up 7.3 per cent) and Mitsubishi (5314 sales, up 19.7 per cent) rounding out the Top Five.

More than 50 per cent of Toyota sales were hybrids for the first time ever – totalling 10,972 vehicles – and if Toyota hybrid cars were a brand, they would have comfortably finished in second place overall.

Toyota sold more hybrid cars and SUVs last month alone than in any calendar year prior to 2018.

There were two Chinese-owned car brands in the Top 10, with regular finisher MG in eighth on 3781 sales, ahead of GWM in ninth on 3330 deliveries.

Electric-car giant Tesla slipped to 13th last month after just 1166 Model Y SUVs and 911 Model 3 sedans were reported as delivered.

The Toyota RAV4 mid-size SUV was the top-selling new vehicle for the third time with 5857 deliveries – after number-one finishes in July and August 2020 – beating its own sales record set last month, when 5070 sales were reported.

It ends the Ford Ranger's five-month streak at the top of the charts – the longest winning run for a vehicle in close to two years after the monthly lead swapped six times between the Toyota HiLux and Ford Ranger last year.

Nearly 95 per cent of RAV4 sales were hybrids – 5504 vehicles, beating last month's record of 4728 examples – and if the petrol-electric variant was its own model, it would have been just 65 deliveries behind the Ford Ranger in second place overall last month.

The Ford Everest broke its sales record for the second month in a row to finish fourth, with 2400 deliveries – while growing Toyota Camry sales after years of stock shortages placed it in the Top 10.

Electric vehicles accounted for 6.4 per cent of new vehicles sold – down from February's 9.6 per cent and March's 9.5 per cent, due to a slump in Tesla sales.

Data below supplied by the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI), and compiled by Alex Misoyannis and Ben Zachariah.