VFACTS February 2024: Ranger extends its lead on 4x4 charts

The arrival of the updated HiLux can’t come soon enough if Toyota intends to keep up with the Ford Ranger, with the Blue Oval ute stretching its sales lead on the 4x4 charts even further.

The VFACTs report for February lists the Ford Ranger as the best-selling 4x4 with a total of 4771 sales registered for the month – 884 more than the ageing HiLux which sold 3887 units. Combining results from January and February, and the Ranger has now outsold the HiLux by 1740 vehicles year-to-date (9105 vs 7365).

The success of the Ranger isn’t limited to the 4x4 charts either, with the ute remaining the best-selling overall vehicle in Australia with 5353 sales (when combining 4x4 and 4x2 variants). It was trailed by the Toyota HiLux (4403), Tesla Model 3 (3593), Isuzu D-MAX (2941) and Toyota RAV4 (2843).

The presence of the Ranger, HiLux and D-MAX on this list reflects Australia’s increasing appetite for utes. Digging a bit deeper reveals the LCV segment accounted for a total of 23,765 sales in February 2024, up from 18,750 in February 2023.

“Australian motorists’ strong preference for utes, accounting for 20.3 per cent of sales this month … out of 21,327 utes sold in February, only one was an EV,” explained Tony Weber, FCAI Chief Executive.

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That EV ute was the LDV eT60. A closer look at LDV reveals sales of its T60 dropped steeply for the budget brand in February, with only 391 sales registered – down from 950 in January. Sales of the Toyota Prado also dropped – from 1746 to 1018 – which saw the SUV plummet out of the top 10. Understandable, considering the arrival of a new model is imminent.

Contrarily, sales of the burly Patrol essentially doubled in February compared to January (1020 versus 509); while Navara sales more than tripled month-to-month, sending it sky-rocketing into the top 10 (1361 February; 424 January).

The RAM 1500 (282 sales) held a nail-biting lead over the Silverado (272) and F-150 (255) in the battle of the big utes in February, but expect that to shift over the coming months as the competition heats up.

Best-selling 4x4s in February 2024

Best-selling 4x4s YTD