Toyota RAV4 Hybrid outsold Mitsubishi, Ford, Volkswagen, Nissan and most other brands in August 2020

The fifth-generation Toyota RAV4’s rise to the top in Australia has been unprecedented, even more so when you consider the vast majority of the mid-size SUV’s recent sales were contributed by its Hybrid variants.

August 2020 marked the second month in a row that the RAV4 was Australia’s favourite new vehicle, with it wrestling the title away from its long-term holder and another Toyota, the HiLux ute.

In fact, of the 4825 RAV4s that were sold last month, a staggering 4405 – or 91.3 per cent – were Hybrid versions, with petrol variants making up the remaining 420. Either way, the mid-size SUV’s sales were up a ludicrous 140.5 per cent over August 2019.

With daylight between the RAV4 and the Ford Ranger ute (2935 units, -7.7%), which last month was once again the runner-up, comparing the mid-size SUV to other models seems a bit pointless, so how did it fare against other brands?

Pretty well, it turns out. If the RAV4 was its own brand, it would’ve finished third on the Australia new-vehicle sales chart in August 2020, trailing only Toyota (12,449 units with the mid-size SUV included, -25.5%) and Mazda (6921, -5.1%).

More impressively, though, the RAV4’s Hybrid variants would’ve placed fifth by themselves, just behind Hyundai (4525 units, -38.2%) and Kia (4521, -3.0%).

That means the RAV4’s Hybrid variants outsold six of last month’s top-10 brands, including Mitsubishi (4308 units, -31.0%), Ford (3898, -20.7%), Volkswagen (2785, -32.1%), Nissan (2380, -47.6), Mercedes-Benz Cars (2064, -13.3%) and Subaru (2052, -42.2%).

Significantly, August 2020 was the first month a hybrid was Australia’s favourite new vehicle, while the same was true for the month prior, except for an SUV.

That said, expect RAV4 sales, particularly that of hybrid variants, to cool off in the near future, as their recent spike came as a result of extra supply arriving to meet pent-up demand, with Toyota expecting back orders to be filled before the year is out.

Interestingly, 49.3 per cent – or 6142 units – of Toyota’s new vehicles sold in August 2020 were hybrids, with the low-emissions models accounting for 26.6 per cent – or 33,462 units – of its 125,686 sales in the first eight months of this year.

For reference, the RAV4 is currently priced from $32,695 to $48,915 plus on-road costs, with Hybrid variants checking between $37,070 and $46,415.