Australia October 2023: Market above 1m units for the first time after 10 months

The Ford Everest breaks its ranking record for the 2nd month in a row. Picture carexpert.com.au

It’s another record for Australian new vehicle market in October with deliveries up a wonderful 22.3% year-on-year to 106,809. This is the first time more than 100,000 units are sold in October, eclipsing the previous record hit in 2017 (95,763). The year-to-date volume is now up 12% to 1,006,095, the first time the Australian market crosses the 1 million milestone in just 10 months. Keep in mind a good part of these sales are deliveries of vehicles ordered months or years ago as a supply bottleneck is cleared and doesn’t exactly reflect the reality of the market. Order books are disappointing. All states and territories are up this month, with Victoria the best performer at +32% to 30,740, followed by New South Wales at +22.8% to 33,001, Tasmania up 20.8% to 1,996, South Australia up 20% to 6,677, Australian Capital Territory up 18.9% to 1,552, Queensland up 16.4% to 21,937, Western Australia up 12.3% to 10,166 and Norther Territory up 1.9% to 740.

SUVs match the market at +22.3% to 59,259 and 55.5% share, unchanged on October 2022 and vs 47.3% in October 2021. Light commercials gain 19.7% to 25,681 and 24% share vs. 24.6% a year ago and 25.9% in 2021 and passenger cars for once perform better than the market at +32.2% to 17,616 sales and 16.5% share vs. 15.3% last year and 21.4% two years ago. The rest of the market (4%) goes to heavy commercials at 4,253. Private sales are up 18% to 55,443, business fleets up 28.8% to 37,831, rental sales up 24.2% to 6,186 and government sales up 65.5% to 3,096. Petrol sales are up 10% to 49,604, diesel is up 25.3% to 35,970, hybrid is up 33.9% to 9,187, BEV up 188.7% to 6,057 but still at a low 5.7% share and PHEV up 274.6% to 1,738. Looking at sales by origin, Japan is up 29.4% to 31,719, Thailand up 22.4% to 24,892, China up 36% to 15,112, South Korea up 1.4% to 12,591 and Germany up 43.5% to 5,165.

In the brands ranking, Toyota (+11.2%) still trails the market but at 19% share it is well above its YTD level of 17.4% (-10.1%). Mazda (+61.3%) surges year-on-year to 8.7% share vs. 8.4% so far this year and Ford (+10%) is weak but year-ago comparison was high (9% share), it holds onto the third place with 8.1% of the market vs. 6.9% YTD. Hyundai (+25.2%), Mitsubishi (+6.9%) and MG (+21.3%) all advance one spot on September, bypassing Kia (-11.5%) straggling at #7. Volkswagen (+36.3%), Isuzu Ute (+45.2%) both gain three ranks on last month to #8 and #9 while Nissan (+201.2%) and Subaru (+55.4%) post even better results. Below, Lexus (+109.4%), Tesla (+79.3%), Land Rover (+70.3%) and Audi (+50.7%) stand out. Newcomers BYD at #20 (+5) and Chery at #23 (+5) climb the ladder.

Model-wise, the Ford Ranger (+10.4%) lodges a 7th win in the past 13 months with a 449-unit advantage over its archenemy the Toyota Hilux (+18.1%). The Ranger closes the gap with the Hilux in the year-to-date charts to just 779 sales. The Hilux is down -8.4% YTD vs. +30.6% for the Ranger. Note the Ranger smashes the Hilux in the lucrative 4×4 segment at 5,949 units vs. 4,829. The Isuzu D-Max (+63.9%) roars up to a record third place also hit in June 2021 and March 2023. This way the entire podium is composed of pickup trucks. The Toyota RAV4 (-19.7%) reclaims the SUV top spot at #4 despite a ghastly year-on-year loss, distancing the MG ZS (+10.6%) for just 61 sales. The MG ZS advances to #3 and #1 SUV in the year-to-date race. The Toyota Prado (+58.8%), Mitsubishi Outlander (+38.2%) and Ford Everest (+41.9%) all post stellar gains, the latter breaking its ranking record for the 2nd time in a row at #9. Notice also the Tesla Model Y (-24.7%) down to #41 due to ship scheduling.

Previous month: Australia September 2023: Record sales, Ford Everest cracks Top 10

One year ago: Australia October 2022: First win for new gen Ford Ranger, GWM Haval in Top 10

Full October 2023 Top 50 All brands and Top 299 All models below.