Australia Full Year 2020: Toyota Hilux #1 for 5th year, RAV4 up 58.8% to #3, Holden out in weakest market in 17 years (-13.7%)

The Toyota RAV4 topped the Australian charts outright in July and August.

Discover 75 years worth of Australian Historical Data here.

Now updated with the Top 280 All-models for December and Top 340 All-models for Full Year 2020.

With low levels of Covid 19 infections and international borders closed, the Australian new light vehicle market rallied back up over the last two months of the year as car buyers prepared to holiday at home. November was up 12.4%, ending a streak 31 consecutive months of year-on-year decline, and December was up 13.5% to 95.652, the best December tally in three years. This brings the 2020 volume to 916.968 sales, down -13.7% on 2019 and the lowest annual result in 17 years (since 2003), also the first time the Australian market falls below the annual 1 million milestone since 2009.

SUVs were up to 51.7% share in December thanks to 49.474 sales, Light Commercials at 23.7% and 22.675 units and Passenger Cars at 20.9% and 19.977 sales. All States and Territories bar one are in negative in 2020, with Australian Capital Territory the only one up at +22.6% to 19.693 due to insurance claims after devastating storms earlier in the year. Western Australia fares the best among the States in negative at -2.7% and 89.434 units, followed by Queensland off -8.9% to 195.769, Northern Territory down -10.2% to 7.731, South Australia down -10.7% to 60.084, New South Wales off -11.1% to 302.117, Tasmania down -22% to 15.673 and Victoria down -25.6% to 226.467 due to a long lockdown mid-year that closed car dealerships.

The Toyota Hilux is the best-selling vehicle in Australia for the 5th straight year.

Private sales were up a gargantuan 41% in December and fare the best annually at -6.1% to 449.376 units, while business sales are down -15.7% to 367.932, rental sales off 53% to 34.676 and government registrations drop -15.7% to 30.417. In terms of fuel type, petrol sales are down -19.8% to 527.871, diesel is down 12.5% to 290.659 but hybrid sales soar 93.7% to 60.417, BEV excluding Tesla is up 16.2% to 1.769 and PHEV up 18.2% to 1.685. Looking at production origin, Japan (-7.3%) leads the way at 309.601 sales, followed by Thailand (-21.3%) at 213.456, South Korea (-17.9%) at 123.725, Germany (-30.4%) at 58.558, the U.S. (-18.3%) at 33.731 and China soaring 70.9% to a record 30.696 units.

In the brands ranking, Toyota (-0.5%) manages the impressive feat of keeping its sales stable year-on-year, registering the best hold in the Top 10 by far. This results in a much improved market share: from 19.4% in 2019 to 22.3% this year, its second-best ever below its record of 23.6% in 2008. Toyota has now been the #1 brand in Australia for 18 consecutive years. As we’ll see below, Toyota becomes the first brand in Australia to have the best-selling vehicle overall, the #1 SUV, #1 passenger car and #1 LCV at the same time. Mazda (-12.3%) loses a little less ground than the market to remain at a solid 2nd place above Hyundai (-24.7%). Audi (+1%) and BMW (+0.9%) are the only gainers in the Top 15, with Mercedes (-6.1%) and Kia (-8.8%) keeping their losses to the single-digits.

Australian brand Holden was discontinued at the end of 2020.

This is the last year for Australian brand Holden, now officially discontinued and down to just 28 sales in December. Over the Full Year, Holden is down -61.3% to #14. Beyond the Top 15, some of the most spectacular upticks are delivered by Chinese carmakers. MG surges 83.2% to #17, broke its monthly volume record 4 times this year and was up to a new record 13th place in both August and September. According to local outlet caradvice.com.au, MG’s aggressive strategy for Australia means it has already integrated some former Holden dealerships into its expanding network. LDV is up 43.9% to #18 and also broke its monthly volume record 4 times in 2020, including in December. MG and LDV are both owned by SAIC which would rank 12th below Honda and above BMW when combining sales of the two brands. Haval surges +93.1% to #27 and broke its monthly volume record 3 times including in December and GWM is up 38.5% to #30. Other impressive gainers include Genesis (+122.3%), Ssangyong (+68.4%) and Ram (+15.8%).

Over in the models ranking, the Toyota Hilux (-5.2%) is the best-selling vehicle in Australia for the 5th year running, hitting a record 4.9% share. The Hilux has now led sales in the Northern Territory for 20 years, Queensland for 14 years, and West Australia for 13 years. However the Ford Ranger (+0.7%) continues to get closer, also hitting a record share at 4.5% and ranking #2 for the 4th consecutive year. The Ranger 4×4 (+2.4%) outsells the Hilux 4×4 (-4.3%) for the second year running and ever at 37.889 vs. 34.766 units. The event of the year is the surge to third place of the Toyota RAV4 (+58.8%), partly thanks to its very impressive new gen Hybrid variant we took on a 11.000 km tour in 2019. The RAV4 topped the Australian sales charts outright in July and August and ends 7 consecutive years of SUV domination by the Mazda CX-5 to become Australia’s best-selling SUV for the first time. It also smashes the volume record it set last year by over 14.000 units, also setting a new SUV volume record at 38.537 vs. 26.173 for the Mazda CX-5 in 2018, the previous record-holder.

MG sales are up 83.2% in a market down -13.7%.

The Toyota Corolla (-15.1%) remains the best-selling Passenger Car in the country for the 8th year in a row, distancing the Hyundai i30 (-26.9%) and Kia Cerato (-19.3%) like last year. The Mazda CX-5 (-13.9%) is up one spot to #5 but loses its SUV crown as we saw above, while the Toyota Prado (-1.6%) is up 4 spots to #8, ranking inside the Top 5 for the last three months of the year, and the Hyundai Tucson (-13.5%) up 3 to #10. The Toyota Land Cruiser (+9.4%) breaks a 17-year old volume record at 15.100 units and spectacularly slices its 2019 ranking in two from #22 to #11, while its pickup variant the Toyota Land Cruiser Ute (+9.1%) is up 14 spots to #23. The Kia Seltos (+386.6%) is inside the Australian Top 25 for its first full year in market while the Mazda CX-3 (-5.8%) and Hyundai Kona (-6.2%) also resist well. The Mazda CX-30 is the best-selling 2020 launch at #29 overall.

Previous month: Australia November 2020: Market ends 31 months of decline with 12.4% surge, Toyota places 4 models in Top 5

Previous year: Australia 2019: Kia only island of growth, Hilux #1 for 4th straight year in weakest market since 2011

Two years ago: Australia 2018: Toyota Hilux 3peats, breaks records in market down 3%

Full December 2020 Top 30 brands and Top 280 All-models below.

Full Year 2020 Top 50 All-brands and Top 340 All-models vs. Full Year 2019 figures below.