Will the Toyota RAV4 topple the Ford Ranger? The battle for Australia's best-selling vehicle is heating up as Toyota's popular SUV leaps ahead of Toyota HiLux and closes in on Ford's ute

Can the Toyota RAV4 make history again in Australia again?

Along with being the first car-based SUV in this country, as well as the first mainstream hybrid-powered SUV, it now stands a solid chance of becoming the first to top the annual sales charts, period.

Especially if the vaunted Toyota marketing machine flexes its muscles.

The RAV4 has already managed the feat monthly three times in 2024, with August’s 6712 tally being its best-ever result and the second-best in history for any Toyota model, behind the HiLux ute’s extraordinary 7582 registrations back in June, 2022.

That’s right. Large family cars like the Holden Commodore, small hatchbacks such as the Mazda3 and one-tonne utes as defined by the HiLux are the only other types of vehicles to have been number one in any given year.

Considering the sheer ubiquity of SUVs, that would surely come as a shock to many. Always the bridesmaids...

However, to make 2024 its year, that would require the RAV4 – which is currently at 38,050 sales to the end of August – overtaking last year’s bestseller, the Ford Ranger at 43,877 units year-to-date, meaning that the latter has a sizeable lead of 5827 registrations.

Unlikely, then, but far from impossible.

According to Toyota Motor Company Australia (TMCA) Vice President Sales, Marketing and Franchise Operations Sean Hanley, seeing the RAV4 overtake the Ranger for the number one yearly sales position would be something to hope for.

“Dare I say? Dare I wish the dream,” he told the Australian media at the launch of the latest Camry in Melbourne. “Could an SUV be the number one selling car in Australia? Who knows. We’ll have to wait. December 31 will tell us.

“It would be a great set of numbers if that ever happened. I’ll give you the tip: we’d be the first company to have a ute as number one (when the HiLux dethroned the Corolla in 2016 and then stayed there until last year), and the first company to have an SUV (at number one)... that would be red hot.

“But anyhow that’s a dream. Hope is not a strategy, right?”

While Hanley remains jubilant over the now-hybrid-only RAV4’s achievements this year, he is adamant that Toyota will not artificially push the midsized SUV to snare the top spot.

“You know, it's possible, but we wouldn't,” he insisted.

“We're not setting out for it to be number one by buying (sales). If it's going to be number one, it has to be natural. So, it'll only be through natural demand. So ultimately, we won't decide that, consumers will.”

That said, given Toyota’s massive marketing might (and reputation), even Hanley admits that there may be some activity surrounding the promotion of RAV4 during the remaining three-and-a-half months of sales.

“Well, no further or less than we normally would, right,” he added. “We wouldn't buy number one for RAV4. It wouldn't be a position we'd take. But however, if natural demand gets it there, that would be a remarkable outcome.”

What may really work in Toyota’s favour is freer stock combined with consistently strong demand that seems to be growing despite this generation RAV4’s advancing age (it launched in mid-2019), with wait times down from around two years to a few months on average, according to Hanley.

“The average wait time for RAV4 is now under four months – and getting shorter,” he revealed, "… and the stock keeps coming. So, now stock and supply for RAV4 hybrid is rock solid.

“And … our order intake remains strong … take it as read: the order bank and the demand for that car is as healthy as it has ever been right now.”

These do not sound like words from an executive who is giving up on his "dream".

Finally, while long wait times apply for some perennially popular Rangers like the Wildtrak and Raptor, Ford is currently promoting service offers on the XL, XLS, XLT and Sport grades, while the Tremor and Black Edition special editions have arrived to help stoke interest in the Australian ute.

Having vanquished the HiLux so far in 2024, can the RAV4 reel in the Ranger as well for the top spot? Watch this space.