Toyota Hilux is Australia’s best-selling vehicle in November

THE Toyota Hilux and Ford Ranger were Australia’s best-selling vehicles in November, 2017 (when 4x4 and 4x2 variants are combined).

And, with only one month left in the annual 4x4 sales race, the Ford Ranger has all but stitched up top spot by maintaining a healthy sales lead ahead of Toyota’s Hilux.

Ford has dispatched 33,827 4x4 Rangers so far in 2017, 1644 more sales than Toyota which has sold 32,183 4x4 Hiluxes.

It’s been a tightly fought two-horse race all year – the next best-selling vehicle is the Mitsubishi Triton with 18,051 4x4 sales – which looks set to go the way of the blue oval.

When compared to 2016, Ford Ranger sales are up 20.8 per cent year-to-date; the Toyota Hilux is up 15.9 per cent.

Despite the Ranger standing on the highest podium, the Hilux has enjoyed consecutive months atop the monthly 4x4 charts – this time pipping the Ranger by just 21 sales.

Records continue to tumble on the overall market, with November sales reaching a total of 101,365 sales – a 2.5 per cent increase on November, 2016.

“This keeps the industry running at 0.6 per cent ahead of last year’s record pace,” the FCAI report indicated. “The majority of the market momentum was again with small and medium SUVs, and 4x4 utilities.”

Compared to the same month last year, the SUV market is up 8.6 per cent; the LCV market is up 7.9 per cent; while the passenger vehicle market is down 7.3 per cent.

FCAI’s Tony Weber is confident the industry will surpass last year’s record total of vehicle sales: “The momentum built in the market over the past few months appears to be continuing, so we’re on target for another record year,” he said.

The Toyota Hilux (4x4 and 4x2) was the overall best-selling vehicle for November with 4103 sales. It was followed by the Ford Ranger (4x4 and 4x2) with 3576 sales, Toyota Corolla (2959), Mazda3 (2464) and Mazda CX-5 (2358).