Australia's favourite cars revealed: Battle heats up for the best selling vehicle of 2024 with Toyota RAV4 and Ford Ranger going toe-to-toe

Toyota is making a run to have its hybrid hero crowned Australia’s favourite vehicle.

The fast selling RAV4 family SUV was the best selling vehicle in October, marking the fourth month in a row it has outsold long-time favourites the Ford Ranger and Toyota HiLux.

It is now about 5000 sales behind the Ford ranger for the full year, which might be too big a hurdle to overcome in the final two months of 2024.

Toyota announced earlier this year it was switching its entire range of hatchback, sedans and SUVs to hybrid only due to a groundswell of public demand. The RAV4 sales prove that was a shrewd move.

A total of 4841 RAV4s found a new home in October, but the rest of the top five were all heavy-duty ladder frame based utes and four-wheel drives.

The Ford Ranger was second with 4757 sales, followed by the Toyota HiLux (4523), Ford Everest (2668) and Isuzu D-Max (2295).

Australia’s love affair with SUVs continues unabated with the rest of the top 10 consisting of the Kia Sportage, Mitsubishi Outlander, Mazda CX-5, Hyundai Tucson and Hyundai Kona.

Australians continue to buy electric cars in record numbers with more than 76,000 finding a home through the first 10 months of this year. That’s a 6.4 per cent increase on 2023 and market share has slightly increased to 7.4 per cent of all new cars sold.

Plug-in hybrids continue their march to relevancy with sales growing more than 36 per cent in October. Sales of plug-in hybrids through the first 10 months have more than doubled compared to 2023, thanks to strong demand for Mitsubishi’s Outlander PHEV and the BYD Sealion 6.

Hybrids are the real stars of the Aussie car market, with more than 14,000 sales in October for a total of more than 144,000 so far this year.

That's a jump of more than 83 per cent for the year and about 55 per cent compared to October, 2023.

New brands such as BYD and Chery have continued their strong 2024. Chery sales are up more than 100 per cent off the back of a rapidly expanding model range and BYD has a chance to sell 20,000 vehicles this year.

Hyundai had a strong month, outselling its stablemate Kia thanks to strong demand for its SUVs.

Mazda continued to secede ground in October with sales down 17 per cent. Ford now has a firm grasp on the second overall position in the sales charts ahead of long time bridesmaid Mazda.

The Japanese brand is in the midst of rejigging its model range with several large SUVs hitting showrooms this month.

GWM has elbowed its way into the top 10 and with solid demand across most of its product portfolio. The future looks bright for GWM with a range of hybrid and rugged vehicles due to arrive in the next 12 months.

It's not all rosy, though.

Sales were down about eight per cent compared to October, 2023. Private buyers are staying away as cost of living pressure mount.

The luxury car market remains troubled in 2024 with a sea of red, except for a few outliers.

Top 10 selling cars October 2024

Model	Sales	Change (per cent)
Toyota RAV4	4841	+86.3%
Ford Ranger	4757	-23.5%
Toyota HiLux	4523	-21.6%
Ford Everest	2668	+48%
Isuzu D-Max	2295	-28.2%
Kia Sportage	2136	+39.7%
Mitsubishi Outlander	1901	-15.1%
Mazda CX-5	1833	-26.9%
Hyundai Tucson	1803	+2.3%
Hyundai Kona	1800	+30.6%

Top 10 selling brands October 2024

Brand	Sales	Change (per cent)
Toyota	18,471	-9%
Ford	8581	-0.3%
Mazda	7656	-17.8%
Hyundai	7086	+7%
Kia	6602	+16.9%
Mitsubishi	5590	-12.6%
MG	5206	-14.7%
Isuzu	3651	-12.2%
GWM	3350	+12.9%
Volkswagen	3279	-24.8%

Source: Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries and Electric Vehicle Council