FORD dealers are again celebrating the sales performance of the Ranger ute family, with the release of the Australian new car sales figures for February.
The continued popularity of the Ranger saw 5,353 vehicles delivered in the 29 days, 850 more than the second-placed Toyota HiLux (4,403) with the Tesla Model 3 rounding out the top three with 3,593 units.
Tony Weber, Chief Executive of the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI), said the sales figures highlights the ongoing demand for Utes in the local market, as well as the challenges for the Federal Government's proposed New Vehicle Emissions Standard.
“Australian motorists’ strong preference for Utes, accounting for 20.3 per cent of sales this month, demonstrates the challenges with the proposed New Vehicle Emissions Standard. Out of 21,327 utes sold in February, only one was an EV," Mr Weber said.
Despite a strong result with the Ranger, Ford's combined sales continued to struggle, with a total monthly figure of 7,275 units, compared to the 19,374 sales recorded by Toyota across its total range.
The only other Ford model to pass 1,000 sales for the month was the Everest - a wagon based on Ranger underpinnings - with 1,059 units, followed by the F-150 (255), Puma (232), Transit range (Bus - 2; Custom - 183; Heavy - 70), the Mustang Mach-E SUV (66) and the Escape (55).
While the Puma will go full electric, with a new model due later this year, it is a significant decrease in sales for the one-time market leader and mainstay of the Australian motoring scene, despite plans to focus on the performance segment with the Mustang and Mustang Dark Horse variants.
Toyota's dominance of the Australian market is underlined by the Japanese manufacturer having four of the top 10 models in February, with the RAV4, LandCruiser and Corolla all appearing in the top-seller list.
The only downside for Toyota would be the former top-selling Corolla only sitting at eighth overall, with a monthly sales figure of 2,357, although it is still the most popular car in its class by a large margin.
Interestingly, while the overall market is up, year on year, the sub-$80,000 sports car segment shrank, down from 450 units in February 2023, to 273 sales in this year.
The biggest drop was the Ford Mustang, with 176 sales in 2023, compared to none this year, with the class leading Subaru BRZ also seeing a big drop in volumes, 145 down to 103, although it wasn't all bad news, the Mini Cabrio's sales jumped from 6 to 42 year-on-year.
Private buyers remained at the top of the list, with 55,729 sales out of the monthly total of 101,148, followed by business (37,103) rental fleets (5,104) and government (3,212).
The truck market remains the domain of Isuzu, with total sales of 1,050, across the Light, Medium and Heavy Duty segments, followed by Hino (414), Mercedes-Benz Vans (307), just ahead of Fuso (303) and fifth placed Kenworth (279), which is also the dominant Heavy Duty truck brand.
Chinese manufacturer LDV was marginally behind with 277 sales, closely followed by Volvo Commercial Vehicles (255), Renault (167), Iveco Trucks (143) and tenth placed Scania (108).
Comments