Toyota RAV4's unstoppable rise: Mega-popular SUV leaves CX-5 in its rear-view in February

The Toyota RAV4 piled on sales in February, climbing to second place on Australia's best-seller list and extending the year-to-date gap between it and arch rival, the Mazda CX-5, to almost 2000 vehicles.

Toyota managed to shift some 3375 examples of its popular SUV last month. That was enough for it to claim the title of best-selling SUV, outselling its nearest rival, the CX-5, by more than 1000 units, as well as second best vehicle overall, behind the Toyota HiLux.

The CX-5, itself a former champ of the medium SUV segment, has been losing ground to the all-new RAV4, with Mazda moving 1969 examples in the month of February. Those numbers are down 16.5 per cent compared to the same month in 2019.

So far this year, Toyota has managed 5665 sales of the RAV4, while Mazda has shifted 3828 examples of the CX-5. To put that into perspective, this time last year (before the launch of the updated RAV4), Toyota moved 3439 units, compared to Mazda’s 4704 units.

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Toyota RAV4 overtakes Mazda CX-5 in race to be crowned Australia's favourite SUV

In tough news for Mazda, the brand’s local arm also confirmed last month that an all-new version of the CX-5 has been delayed, and now might not arrive until 2023.

The next CX-5, which will be built on the company’s new large vehicle architecture, has reportedly been pushed back to allow for more electrification options.

“We’re okay with it, because in the end the CX-5 does very well in our market. We’ve got a good range of SUVs on offer, including CX-8 and CX-9," Mazda Australia's managing director, Vinesh Bhindi, told CarsGuide in February.

“If the large architecture has been delayed for electrification technologies, it’s probably technology we want.”