Australia April 2021: Ford Ranger tops charts, Toyota Land Cruiser #4 in all-time record April volume

The Ford Ranger is the best-selling vehicle in Australia this month.

6/05 update: Now with Top 285 All-models.

The Australian new vehicle market soars to an all-time record April volume this year with sales up 137.2% year-on-year and up 22.3% on April 2019 to 92.347 units. This is a 6th consecutive month of year-on-year gains after 31 straight months of decline, all this despite a global microchip shortage that has disrupted production and stock availability, and incurred long delivery delays. The year-to-date tally is now up 30.7% year-on-year and 3.5% on two years ago at 355.995 units. Private sales pull the market up, shooting up 177% to 47.436 units, business fleet sales are up a more contained 109.6% to 32.963, rental sales bounce back up 411.8% to 6.249 and government fleets drop -9.3% to 2.306.

Looking at market segments, SUVs soar 172.8% to 49.176 and 53.3% share vs. 46.3% a year ago, light commercials are up 130.1% to 21.714 and 23.5% share vs. 24.2% in April 2020 and passenger cars gain 97.3% to 18.064 but drop to just 19.6% share, believed to be the first time they fall below the 20% share mark. Looking at sales by state, New South Wales account for 31.5% share, Victoria for 26%, Queensland for 21.2%, Western Australia for 10.7%, South Australia 6.3%, Tasmania for 1.7%, ACT for 1.5% and Northern Territory for 1%. In terms of the country of origin of vehicles sold in Australia for the month, Japan comes first with 34.861 units (+166.6%), followed by Thailand at 21.094 (+119%), South Korea at 11.872 (+148.5%), China at 5.634 (+604.3%) and Germany at 3.123 (+22.9%).

The Toyota Land Cruiser is up to a record 4th place in April.

In the brands ranking, Toyota (+95.7%) doubles the sales of any other brand despite growing slower than the market, keeping in min it hit a record share a year ago in April 2020. Mazda (+232.6%) lifts to 10.9% share vs. 10.6% so far this year, with Mitsubishi (+333.3%) bouncing back up to 8.1% share vs. 7.1% year-to-date. Ford (+217.5%) overtakes Hyundai (+156.9%) to take 4th place overall. Kia (+129%) and Nissan (+138.4%) follow ahead of Subaru (+169.2%) and Volkswagen (+135.2%). MG (+626.3%) lands a third consecutive month inside the Australian Top 10 at #10. Other impressive gainers include GWM (+672.8%), LDV (+417.1%), Jeep (+265.9%) and Audi (+243.4%).

Over in the models aisle, the Ford Ranger (+226%) signs a third ever monthly win in Australia after September 2017 and September 2020, equalling the share record it hit back in September 2020 at 5.4%. This is also only the 5th time in the past 20 years that a Ford nameplate tops the Australian monthly charts after the Ford Falcon did so in September 2003 and August 2005. The Ranger takes the lead in the lucrative 4×4 ute segment with 4.671 sales vs. 3.315 for the Toyota Hilux. The Toyota RAV4 (+135.8%) becomes the brand’s best-seller this month, outpacing the Toyota Hilux (+80.5%) down to #3 but still by far in the YTD lead. The Toyota Land Cruiser Wagon (+180.8%) soars to 4th place overall which is a new record, eclipsing the #6 it reached a year ago in April 2020. The Mitsubishi Triton (+424.1%) bounces back to make it three pickups in the Top 5, distancing the Mazda CX-5 (+263.1%) and Toyota Corolla (+73.5%). The Mitsubishi ASX (+482.8%) is back up 28 spots on March to land in 8th place. Notice also the MG ZS (+1105.4%) at #17 and the MG3 (+418%) at #21.

Previous month: Australia March 2021: Market up 22.4% year-on-year and 0.6% on two years ago, Mazda up 58.2%, MG in Top 10

One year ago: Australia April 2020: Toyota hits record share, places 5 in Top 6 in market down -48.5% to lowest in 26 years

Full April 2021 Top 45 All-brands and Top 285 All-models below.