VFACTS October 2022: Ford Ranger takes top spot as Toyota bounces back, Tesla Model Y drops from the top 10

New car sales in Australia continue to improve in 2022, with SUVs and light commercial vehicles accounting for 80 per cent of the market.

Ford’s new-gen Ranger ute climbed to the top of sales charts for the first time, while Tesla sales slipped following last month's record high.

According to monthly results provided by the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI), it was a bumper October compared to last year, with 87,299 vehicles registered compared to 74,650 this time in 2021 – but down on September’s 93,555 posting.

The FCAI noted the improvement over October last year is largely down to 2021’s supply constraints which it said are beginning to ease. Still, it puts the market up 0.8 per cent YTD compared to 2021, with 7639 more sales recorded in 2022.

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Following last month’s slip, Toyota is back on top of the brand game posting a 20.9 per cent market share this month, just shy of its YTD 21.7 per cent share. Mazda continued to slip with 6.6 per cent market share as Ford (bolstered by the new Ranger), Kia and Mitsubishi all outsold the Hiroshima-based brand in October.

However, Mazda has comfortably retained its second year-to-date place with 13,089 more cars sold this year than third-spot Kia.

New South Wales sold the most vehicles with 26,869 units shifted, followed by Victoria with 23,283 and Queensland at 18,850.

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FCAI chief executive, Tony Weber, warned this month of the popularity of SUVs and light commercial vehicles in an era when lowering emissions is critical.

“It is important to note the continuing, strong preference for SUV and Light Commercial vehicles in Australia. Consumer preference for these vehicles needs to be considered when charting any policy designed to increase the uptake of zero emission vehicles. This is particularly critical given the low availability and high price points of zero and low emission models in these segments,” he said.

“We look forward to working with governments to provide practical guidance on how emissions from light vehicles can be reduced within this context,” Mr Weber added.

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Top 10 models 🥇

For the second time this year, the Ford Ranger ute (5628) outsold the Toyota HiLux (4884). This is a significant milestone for the new-gen Ranger, and indicates Ford is delivering bulk quantities of its new ute. The HiLux’s YTD sales of 54,680 sees it maintain the overall lead for 2022.

Status quo resumed in October with the Toyota RAV4 medium SUV getting third spot (3222) with a 73.6 per cent increase on last month. The Tesla Model Y is nowhere to be seen this month, posting 1076 sales.

The Mazda CX-5 followed the RAV4 in fourth spot posting a solid 2352 sales and retaining its fifth YTD status. The MG ZS small SUV broke into the top 10 again with 2293 sales, followed by the third ute, the Isuzu D-Max (1951).

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Another medium SUV broke into the leaderboard, with the Kia Sportage selling 1877 this month, a small increase over 102 units over September.

Following in eighth was the MG 3 light car, showing that low prices can still drive sales. At the opposite end of the size spectrum is the combined Toyota LandCruiser range, which is starting to find its feet in the sales charts as 300 Series deliveries continue to improve (1217 sales) and 70 Series stay strong (550).

Rounding out the top sellers this month is the Mitsubishi ASX, which is in run-out ahead of the launch of a minor MY23 refresh in December.

After several bumper months, the Mitsubishi Triton ute dropped out of the top 10 sellers posting 1679 sales.

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Top 10 cars in Australia: October 2022

Top 10 cars in Australia: YTD 2022

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Top 10 car brands 🥇

Following a tricky September, Toyota is back on top this month recording 18,259 sales in October; up 23 per cent on last month and 18.6 compared to October 2021. Year-to-date sales are 194,669.

With deliveries of Ranger in full-swing Ford jumped to second spot for October at 7823 units, for 53,298 and sixth-spot YTD. Of Ford’s Australian sales, 92 per cent come from light commercial vehicles and Everest SUV.

Kia maintained strong sales this month nabbing third spot with 6380 sales and 66,580 YTD keeping its nose just ahead of Mitsubishi (5982 monthly; 66,505 YTD).

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Mazda’s usual second-place is maintained comfortably in YTD sales (79,669) but not in monthly sales, with the brand slipping back to fifth spot in October with 5,775 sales followed by a similarly uncharacteristic number from Hyundai in sixth (5289 monthly; 63,392 YTD)

Mitsubishi took fourth place, selling 6784 cars in September and 60,523 YTD for a 47 per cent growth, followed by Ford – which climbed to fifth spot last month with 6635 units (up 15 per cent), and came sixth year-to-date with 45,575 vehicles sold.

MG may have ‘only’ held seventh position for the month and year, but with 5031 sales in October, it was the Chinese brand’s best month to date, managing to get two cars into the top 10.

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Volkswagen had another strong month. Despite not getting any cars into the top-10 sellers, its 3199 registrations spread relatively evenly across Golf, T-Cross, T-Roc, Tiguan were enough to secure eighth spot ahead of Isuzu (2865).

Rounding out the monthly lis was GWM posting strong sales figures at 2462, though somewhat adrift of its record September sales (3065). It sits in 14th place YTD with 18,833 registrations in 2022.

Subaru (28,264) and Mercedes-Benz (26,841) kept ninth and 10th in year-to-date tallies but slipped to 11th and 12th for the month respectively. Tesla, meanwhile, was nowhere to be seen in October with 1109 sales getting it 19th for the month and 16th for the year (15,132).

Top 10 brands: October 2022

Top 10 brands: YTD 2022

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Ups and downs 🔼 🔽

From outside the top-10 brands, Cupra continued to grow momentum posting 248 sales in October, a number up 24.6 per cent on last month and one that represents 40 per cent of total sales this year.

Ford’s Mustang is losing momentum as order books close; the sports car only sold 135 units in October compared to 237 in September, and 269 in October 2021.

A pair of Chinese challenger brands – GWM and MG – both had bumper months getting into the top 10 sales list by brand. GWM posted its best-ever sales last month and slipped slightly for September, but MG comprehensively beat its previous best number, registering 5031 new cars in October.

As a stark illustration of Tesla’s selling power in Australia, EV sales dropped a staggering 71 per cent from September to October, with BEVs accounting for 2.4 per cent of October sales. There were only 33 Model 3 sedans sold this month.

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Hybrid sales improved over last month and October 2021 – down to the new Toyota Corolla Cross arriving and RAV4’s return to form – with 6860 sales this month compared to 4616 in September.

Medium SUVs were the single most-popular market segment accounting for 21.2 per cent of sales, compared to 15.2 per cent last October meanwhile 4x4 utes were the second most-popular with 19.1 per cent share.

Every SUV category – except large SUVs – posted an increase in market share in October 2022, while every passenger car genre except for people movers posted a decline.

The small car class was really hampered this month with no examples in the top-10 – the Toyota Corolla (904) and Hyundai i30 (1441) failed to make the best-seller list, while Honda only registered 84 new Civics, compared to 284 in 2021.

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In charts 📊

October 2022 – Top 10 models

October 2022 – Top 10 brands

October 2022 – Overall segment sales

October 2022-2021 category sales

October 2022-2021 category YTD sales

2022 sales race

October 2022 Australian sales map

October 2022 buyer type