'What a difference a year makes in the auto industry': 2025 will be the year of the Toyota RAV4 as new competition from the BYD Shark 6 and Kia Tasman expected to dilute sales of the Ford Ranger and Toyota HiLux

The Ford Ranger has just been crowned the best-selling vehicle in Australia for 2024, but Toyota is already predicting an SUV could claim the prize for the first time this year.

That SUV is likely to be the Toyota RAV4 Hybrid.

The popular SUV was the second best-selling vehicle in 2024 with 58,718 RAV4s finding a home, which is almost double the 29,627 bought in 2023.

Toyota Australia’s Vice President Sales, Marketing and Franchise Operations, Sean Hanley, said the dual-cab dominance at the top of the sales charts could end in 2025.

The Ford Ranger and Toyota HiLux have sat on top of the podium for about a decade, but the influx of new ute models this year will likely close that chapter.

“We already know that the number of ute models available to Australian buyers will expand rapidly. They’ll be competing for an overall ute market that is likely to remain steady, which suggests that the average sales per model will come down as a result,” said Hanley.

“It may be, and I stress maybe, that an SUV could rise to the top of the national sales charts in the next year or two, and just maybe that SUV will be a Toyota RAV4 Hybrid,” he said.

Some of the headline-grabbing new challengers are the plug-in hybrid BYD Shark 6 that comes with sharp pricing, hi-tech features and ultra-low fuel use.

Kia’s Tasman looms as one of its biggest challengers with the brand’s strong fleet presence and a seven-year warranty in its arsenal.

Kia is predicting it will sell between 20,000 and 25,000 Tasmans. The majority of those sales are likely to come from the big name ute players.

It is unlikely any other SUV could challenge the RAV4’s dominance. The next best seller is the Mitsubishi Outlander with 27,613 sales in 2024, or less than half the RAV4’s sales.

Hanley said the company’s order bank for RAV4 is substantial heading into 2025, which bodes well for another bumper sales result this year.

Part of the RAV4’s dominance is its hybrid power. Toyota ditched petrol-only power from the RAV4 earlier this year as the market became hooked on petrol-electric propulsion.

Hanley said in the past five years sales of hybrids have grown by more than 450 per cent, with more than 75 per cent growth in the past year.

“Now this was largely driven by Toyota customers who purchased the record 118,000 hybrid cars and SUVs last year, an increase of better than 60 per cent,” said Hanley.

“What a difference a year makes in the auto industry.”

It’s the red hot demand for hybrids that is sure to catapult the RAV4 to the top of the sales charts next year. 

Toyota dominates the hybrid market accounting for almost 70 per cent of hybrid vehicles in 2024, and hybrids account for almost half of its total 241,296 full year sales.

Hanley also predicted that there will be further growth in hybrids and plug-in hybrids in 2025.

“Hybrids and plug-in hybrids are what you'll be talking about in January 2026,” he said.

Top 10 selling car models 2024

Make/model	Sales	Change (per cent)
Ford Ranger	62,593	-1.2%
Toyota RAV4	58,718	+98.2%
Toyota HiLux	53,499	-12.5%
Isuzu D-Max	30,194	-3.2%
Mitsubishi Outlander	27,613	+13.8%
Ford Everest	26,494	+75.8%
Toyota Corolla	24,027	+20.2%
Mazda CX-5	22,835	-1.1%
MG ZS	22,629	-22.7%
Kia Sportage	22,210	+41%