VFACTS April 2019: 4x4 sales report

FORD Ranger outsells the Toyota Hilux in the 4×4 market for April, while Isuzu targets 30,000 sales in 2020.

A total of 2737 Ranger 4x4s were sold in April (a 16.6 per cent increase compared to April 2018), proving there’s still an appetite for the Blue Oval, while Toyota shifted 2702 units (up 1.6 per cent). Better still, Isuzu’s D-Max 4×4 posted a 23.9 per cent increase compared to the same month last year (from 809 to 1002 sales), making it the sixth best-selling 4×4 in April 2019.

At the recent unveiling of IUA’s MY19 D-Max and MU-X, Ben Jaegar, IUA’s deputy general manager of sales, spoke of the company’s sales targets for the next two years, with the Japanese brand targeting 28,500 overall sales by 2019 (19,000 D-Max sales and 9500 MU-X sales) and 30,000 sales by 2020.

This modest 3.0 per cent sales growth target for 2019 is partly due to the trends of the current market, with overall sales considerably down on last year.

The current VFACTS report listed a total of 75,550 units were sold in April 2019, a drop of 8.9 per cent when compared to April 2018 (82,930). That slide is mirrored in the YTD sales, with an 8.1 per cent decrease noted from year to year.

“This decrease is the result of a number of factors in the Australian market, including the downturn in the housing market, the tightening of lending practices, environmental factors such as drought and flood, and, of course, the imminent Federal Government election,” chief executive of the FCAI, Tony Weber, said. “With all these elements currently present in the market, it is no surprise that Australian consumers are conservative in their approach to major purchases at the moment.”

Despite the overall decline, LCV sales only slid 3.0 per cent compared to the same month last year; unlike the Passenger vehicle market and SUV market which both dropped considerably (-13.5% and -8.2%).

10 Best-selling 4x4s in 2019

20 Best-selling 4x4s in April 2019