Australia October 2024: Toyota RAV4 #1 for 4th straight month, Leapmotor lands

The Toyota RAV4 sees its sales surge 86.3% year-on-year.

15/11 update: now with Top 320 All models ranking.

New vehicle sales in Australia are off -6.4% year-on-year in October to 99,969 units, still the 2nd best ever October volume (last year was 106,809). The year-to-date tally remains up at +2.2% to 1,028.376, a new record after 10 months. Only three states and territories are up this month: Western Australia gains 14.6% to 11,649, Northern Territory is up 11.6% to 859 and Queensland up 3.4% to 22,012. In contrast Tasmania contracts -20.1% to 1,594, Victoria drops -11.5% to 26,772, New South Wales is down -10.8% to 29,452, Australian Capital Territory is down -10.6% to 1,403 and South Australia falls -10.7% to 6,267. 

Worryingly, private sales are hit -14.2% to 47,402 units, while business sales edge down -2.5% to 37,019, rental fleets gain 1.5% to 6,282 and government sales are up 1.1% to 3,147. SUVs lose -3.4% to 57,233 and 57.3% share vs. 55.5% in both October 2023 and 2022. Light commercials sink -13.7% to 22,171 and 22.2% share vs. 24% a year ago and 24.6% in 2022, and passenger cars decline -8.9% to 16,040 and 16% share vs. 16.5% and 15.3%. The rest of the market (4.5%) goes to heavy commercials at 4,525 sales (+6.4%). Petrol sales fall -12.3% to 43,5069, diesel is down -19.5% to 28,941, Hybrids are up a whopping 54.6% to 14,176, BEVs rise +5.9% to 6,414 and 6.4% share vs. 5.7% a year and and PHEVs climb 36.8% to 2,407. Looking at sales by country of origin, Japan is down -10% to 28,535, Thailand down -11.6% to 22,016, China up 1.9% to 15,401, South Korea up 8.8% to 13,701 and Germany up 1.7% to 5,254.

Brand-wise, Toyota (-9%) falls faster than the market to 18.5%, partly due to the absence of Prado sales. Ford (-0.3%) is stable at a strong 8.6% share vs. 8.1% so far this year. Mazda (-17.8%) stays #3 despite a hefty loss, while Hyundai (+7%) and Kia (+16.9%) are the only two gainers in the Top 8. MG (-14.7%), Mitsubishi (-12.6%) and Isuzu Ute (-12.2%) all disappoint. GWM (+12.9%) repeats at a solid 9th place just as Volkswagen (-24.8%) freefalls at #10. Chery (+110.5%), Mini (+71.8%), BYD (+71.1%), Suzuki (+42.3%) and Porsche (+38.8%) all impress below. This month we welcome another Chinese carmaker in the market: Leapmotor with 35 sales.

Over in the models charts, the Toyota RAV4 (+86.3%) is the best-seller for the 4th consecutive month and the 5th time this year after April, July, August and September. It is the 7th time the RAV4 tops the Australian charts: add July 2020 and August 2020. However the gap with the Ford Ranger (-23.5%), at just 84 sales this month, is not enough to lift the RAV4 to the YTD top spot. The Ranger has a 5,046-unit advantage over the period. The Toyota Hilux (-21.6%) stays at #3 ahead of the Ford Everest (+48%) equalling its best ever ranking at #4. The Isuzu D-Max (-28.2%) is in freefall at #5 above a very strong Kia Sportage (+39.7%). Below a positive Hyundai Tucson (+2.3%), the Hyundai Kona (+30.6%) breaks into the Australian Top 10 for the first time at #10. Finally, notice the MG 4 (+97.9%) up 49 spots on September to a record #16.

Previous month: Australia September 2024: Toyota RAV4 best-seller, Ford Everest breaks records

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

Full October 2024 Top 50 All brands and Top 320 All models below.