Top 10 selling SUVs in Australia, April 2016

SUV sales continue to close in on passenger cars and in April were less than 5000 units shy of what is traditionally the biggest market segment in Australia.

While passenger car sales increased slightly in April over the same month last year – up from 35,015 to 36,671 – SUVs accounted for 31,783 sales.

That takes the gap in year-to-date sales to about 15,000 units (155,095 passenger cars versus 140,152 SUVs) whereas a year ago the difference was about 39,000 units.

According to VFACTS sales data, the most popular SUV segment is Medium – led by the Mazda CX-5, Toyota RAV4, Hyundai Tucson and Nissan X-Trail – but only by a narrow margin over Large, where the Toyota Prado rules the roost.

Mazda was the top-selling SUV brand with the CX-5 being almost matched by its smaller CX-3 sibling, 1675 sales to 1604.

With the Hyundai ix35 having been replaced by the Tucson and moving up from Small to Medium, the CX-3 has been left to run amok, selling almost twice as many as its nearest rivals, the Mitsubishi ASX, Honda HR-V and Nissan Qashqai.

Toyota was also significantly prolific with four of its models in the Top 10.

TOP 10 SUVS FOR APRIL 2016