Australia's best-selling cars, SUVs and utes in 2022

Australia's new car market may have faced its toughest June in a decade, but there are still some manufacturers celebrating a strong first-half performance.

Last week's VFACTS report from the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) showed registrations for the opening stanza of 2022 have fallen by 5.2 per cent, with the 537,856 vehicles sold so far this year representing a nearly-30,000 unit hole compared to the start of June 2021.

With the first six months of the year down and supply issues hampering a significant portion of the market, we take a look at the state of play and which models are performing well at the half-time siren for the year.

Note: Heavy commercial vehicles have been omitted from this report, accounting for the missing 4.2 per cent market share.

Passenger – 19.4 per cent market share

Micro

The Kia Picanto currently leads the three-model micro category on 2141 sales for the year (down 43.2 per cent from 2021), clearly putting itself in front of the Fiat 500 and Mitsubishi Mirage with a 68.5 per cent share of the segment.

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Light

One of two MGs sitting atop its category, the MG3 currently holds a commanding 35.3 per cent share of the light passenger vehicles segment, thanks to its 23 per cent sales growth this year, shifting 8587 units.

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Small

Can a Toyota Corolla suprise you? The dependable model retains its status as the best in its class in terms of sales volume, with 13,154 examples finding homes this year representing 29.2 per cent of its market's overall sales.

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Medium

The second Toyota to top the charts is the Camry. Despite a 20.1 per cent drop in sales this year (with 5004 sold to the end of June), the favourite of ridesharing platforms and taxi services still holds a 26.9 per cent share of the segment, although things could have been very different if Tesla hadn't faced production issues with the Model 3, currently sitting on 4653 deliveries.

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Large

Even though its Australian debut came five years ago, the Kia Stinger is hitting the best form of its life, with year-to-date sales of the performance sedan increasing by the highest percentage of any model on this list, registering a 74 per cent spike over 2021 thanks to its 1683 sales – accounting for 53.7 per cent of all large car sales.

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Upper large

For those with hefty wallets, the upper large segment is the place to be and the Mercedes-Benz S-Class has continued its run of form as the leader amongst its peers, holding 31.1 per cent of all sales despite a 26.3 per cent downturn in registrations, with just 101 units sold so far.

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People-movers

Of the proper passenger vehicles in this list, none have as big of an impact amongst their rivals as the Kia Carnival, leading the way with 64.9 per cent of its segment's sales and enjoying a 14.6 per cent increase over last year thanks to its 3857 registrations.

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Sports

In one of the more niche categories out there, it's the Mustang which continues to fly the flag for Ford, being the Blue Oval's only segment-topping model with 19.1 per cent of the sports car category. Sales have fallen more than any other leading model year-on-year, down in 2022 by 57.6 per cent with just 760 units delivered.

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SUV – 52.4 per cent market share

Light

Despite being positioned as high-riding hatchbacks, the light SUV segment is actually the smallest of the five, led internally with 19.1 per cent of the category by the Mazda CX-3, which is enduring a tough year – posting sales of 5176 units, decreasing by 42.4 per cent.

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Small

Bucking the trend in a market led by Japanese manufacturers, the MG ZS is holding its own amongst the other small SUVs with its 10,380 figure contributing to 15 per cent of all sales against its competitors, aided by a 14.2 per cent increase in popularity this year.

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Medium

As the best-selling non-ute this year, the Toyota RAV4 is consistent if nothing else, fluctuating (up) by just 0.1 per cent with 20,373 sales, leading the pack with 19.8 per cent of the segment share.

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Large

The RAV4's Prado big brother is also leading its own category on 18.1 per cent of all sales, attributed to a resurgence in popularity for the 4x4 with 12,978 sales year-to-date – 27.6 per cent more than this time last year.

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Upper large

Completing the Toyota trifecta is the new LandCruiser, with the 300 Series carrying on from the success of its predecessors to lead its segment with a 54 per cent hold on the market, although sales are down by 49.3 per cent thanks to ongoing production issues in Japan, with a total of 5896 units registered in 2022.

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Light commercial vehicles – 24 per cent market share

Buses

Toyota's domination continues in the LCV segment, as the HiAce takes the biggest lead of any vehicle with a whopping 82.4 per cent of all light buses, highlighted by a 33.5 per cent increase in sales to 1525 units.

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Vans (under 2.5 tonne)

One of the smallest segments out there is led by the Renault Kangoo, the French van accounting for nearly half of all sub-2.5 tonne van sales with 48.6 per cent of the segment thanks to its 467 units sold.

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Vans (2.5-3.5 tonne)

Just as it does in its bus configuration, the HiAce leads overall van sales and holds a commanding 42.8 per cent stake among those rated between 2.5 to 3.5 tonnes – recording 5084 units sold this year.

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Utes (4x2)

A long-time leader of the 4x2 market, it should be no surprise to see Toyota's HiLux taking a 46.4 per cent chunk of all rear-wheel-drive ute sales, having racked up 8119 deliveries so far in 2022 – 33 per cent more than it had managed by the same point last year.

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Utes (4x4)

Australia's best-selling vehicle is also the clear favourite amongst its peers, with the HiLux again proving to be a leader amongst its competitiors by holding a 24.6 per cent share of the 4x4 ute segment on 23,852 sales, 8.5 per cent more than it managed at the end of June 2021.

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