Toyota's dominance revealed: 2025 Toyota RAV4 Hybrid smashes the Toyota HiLux, Ford Ranger, Mazda CX-5 and Mitsubishi Outlander in August sales

Toyota’s RAV4 hybrid is defying the odds.

It’s rare for a car nearing the end of its life cycle — typically eight years for passenger cars — to hit a sales record, but that’s what the RAV4 has achieved.

The RAV4 is due to be replaced in 2026 but the current version could challenge for the most popular vehicle in Australia this year.

Toyota sold 6712 RAV4s in August, which was a record for the brand according to Toyota Australia’s Vice President of Sales, Marketing and Franchise Operations, Sean Hanley.

“It means that RAV4 – once again – is the best-selling vehicle in the country,” said Hanley.

“That’s the third time this year, and the fifth time overall.

“It’s also the sixth straight monthly record for this model.

“And it’s the first time we’ve delivered more than 6000 RAV4 SUVs in a single month,” he said.

Of the more than 6700 RAV4s delivered in August more than 6300 were hybrids, which in itself was good enough to make it the best selling vehicle in August.

The RAV4s’s August performance was the second best all time for any Toyota vehicle in Australia.

Only the Toyota HiLux in June 2022 fared better.

The RAV4 isn’t done yet according to Hanley, with a strong order bank, improved stock levels and a wait time of just under four months to further boost sales.

The RAV4 has now supplanted the HiLux ute as the most popular vehicle in the Japanese brand’s Australia line-up this year with 38,050 sales compared to 37,758 through the first eight months.

The HiLux has been the best selling vehicle in the nation for the best part of a decade until it was knocked off its perch in 2023 by the Ford Ranger.

The Ranger is currently the best selling vehicle for this year, too, but the RAV4 is in with a shot to take back the crown for Toyota.

Despite its record setting sales the RAV4 still has a lot of work to do to overtake Ranger and its 42,877 sales so far this year.

Toyota's dominance isn't just reserved for the RAV4 and HiLux, but its smashing it right across the market where the car maker accounts for more than one in five new cars sold. The Japanese giant's year-to-date total is only a whisker behind its record breaking 2008 total.

There is bad news on the horizon for the RAV4's rivals too.

Toyota is prepping a new version of the RAV4, which is expected to be revealed late next year before heading on sale in 2026.

Toyota is developing a trio of new engines that are better suited to electrification to fit in its next-gen cars.

The most likely engine to be fitted to the next-gen RAV4 is the mooted 1.5-litre four-cylinder turbocharged petrol unit. 

It has been speculated by Japanese media outlets the new RAV4 will have a bigger battery, which will do more of the heavy lifting compared to the current version helping to deliver lower fuel use.

So expect better fuel economy than the current non-turbo 2.5-litre four-cylinder hybrid set-up, which drinks a claimed 4.8 litres in the heavier and thirstier all-wheel drive guise.

There is also a chance the next RAV4 could come with plug-in hybrid power borrowed from Chinese giant BYD.

This rumoured partnership could result in several Toyota’s being able to drive up to 2000km on a single tank of fuel.