VFACTs November 2024: Strong start on the sales charts for the all-new Prado

After its first official month of sales, the all-new Toyota Prado has skyrocketed to second on the monthly 4x4 sales chart, behind only the unstoppable Ford Ranger.

A total of 3590 Prados were delivered to customers across the country who had signed on the dotted line for the new SUV in the lead-up to its Australian debut. This successful start on local soil for the Prado is evidenced by the fact it was also the third best-selling overall vehicle in the country, trailing only the Ford Ranger and Toyota RAV4.

Reported last month, Toyota also revealed it has changed its ordering process to ensure improved clarity for buyers waiting for delivery of their new Prado – an issue that irked customers waiting for the 300 Series. The change essentially gives dealers an allocation of stock which they can sell until they run out. We should see steady sales numbers for the Prado throughout 2025 as a result.

The Ranger continues to fly out of Ford dealerships, with the Blue Oval remaining the best-selling 4x4 vehicle in Australia for the month. A milestone was also reached in November, with the Ranger surpassing 50,000 year-to-date sales, ending the month with a total of 53,729 sales in the bank.

This means the Ranger has now outsold the next best-selling 4x4 vehicle - the Toyota HiLux – by more than 10,000 units, with the HiLux notching up 43,068 year-to-date sales in November. The Ford Everest fills the last position on the podium with 24,018 year-to-date sales, and it’s followed by Isuzu’s D-MAX (22,015) and MU-X (16,790). An important milestone was also reached by Isuzu Ute Australia, with the Japanese marque announcing that more than 350,000 D-MAX and MU-X have now been sold and delivered in Australia.

GWM’s Ute outsold the other budget options in November with 533 sales), positioning it ahead of the LDV T60 (487) and SsangYong Musso (185). The Chevrolet Silverado (including HD model; 312 sales) outsold both the RAM 1500 (272) and Ford F-150 (203).

Overall sales for November were quite disappointing, according to FCAI Chief Executive, Tony Weber, with cost-of-living pressures an ongoing factor.

“From an historical perspective, the 2024 year-to-date result is strong. However, the market is starting to show a number of clear trends. The first half of 2024 recorded market growth of 8.7 per cent compared with 2023. Since July, we have seen the market decline by 8.2 per cent compared with 2023.

“The Private buyer segment continues to struggle with a decline of 16.6 per cent on November 2023. This follows falls of 14.2 per cent in October, 17.2 per cent in September and 15.9 per cent in August. This is a disturbing trend which illustrates how cost of living pressures are impacting households.

“Consumer preference remains clear with SUVs and Light Commercial vehicles making up the top ten new vehicles sold while Passenger vehicles fell to a monthly market share of just 13.7 per cent.”

A total of 20,544 LCVs were sold in November 2024, which is down 23.3 per cent compared to November 2023 sales (26,772). The SUV segment is considerably more stable, only showing a decrease of 2.8 per cent from November 2024 (60,612) to November 2023 (62,347).