Isuzu D-Max News

In recent years the pointy end of the Australian new vehicle sales race has reflected our seemingly insatiable appetite for dual cab utes, with the Ford Ranger and Toyota HiLux locked in a fierce arm wrestle to determine the annual winner.

Australia’s top-selling car and the top-selling brands for 2024 have been revealed and it’s been yet another record year of sales.Last year, Australians bought 1,237,287 new vehicles, which represented a modest 1.7 per cent upswing compared with 2023 sales. It was enough to make it the biggest year of sales in Australian history.Utes and SUVs continued to dominate with just one passenger car - the Toyota Corolla - managing to remain in the top 10 best-selling models list.Almost 700,000 SUVs were sold in the calendar year compared with 270,000 light-commercial vehicles and just over 203,000 passenger cars (hatchbacks, sedans, wagons, sports cars and people movers).The top-selling model for 2024 was the Ford Ranger, repeating its 2023 win, despite a slight dip in sales to 62,593 (-1.2%).The Toyota RAV4 had its best sales year and came pretty close to toppling the Ranger, but had to settle for a still-impressive second place with 58,718 units, closely followed by its HiLux stablemate on 53,499.The Isuzu D-Max was the only other ute in the top 10, landing in fourth place with 30,194, and rounding out the top-five models was the Mitsubishi Outlander.Making up the rest of the top-10 models were Ford’s Everest, the Corolla, Mazda CX-5, MG ZS and the Kia Sportage. Check the tables below for all the figures.Toyota maintained its dominance in the industry, leading the charge with 241,296 sales, which is 12.1 per cent ahead of last year’s total.As expected, Ford leapfrogged Mazda to nab second place with a healthy 100,170 units, helped mostly by those solid Ranger and Everest numbers.Mazda dipped a little in 2024 (95,987) but remained well ahead of fourth-placed Kia on 81,787, while Mitsubishi (74,547) capped off the top-five brands.Hyundai (71,664) only just missed out on a top-five position, trailing Mitsubishi by 2883 units.MG also took a sales tumble but still stayed firm with 50,592 (-13.3%) for seventh place, while Isuzu continued to punch above its weight in eighth spot, recording 48,172 sales with just two models on sale.Nissan managed to make some gains in 2024, landing in ninth place with 45,284, and China’s GWM is now firmly a top-10 player having grabbed tenth spot with 42,782.The Chinese giant kept Subaru and Tesla out of the top list, with Subaru collecting 40,604 sales and Tesla sliding by 17 per cent to 38,347.The Model Y also just missed out on a top-10 spot for model sales, with 21,253 finding homes, a drop of 26 per cent.Despite the bumper sales year, the automotive industry’s peak body is forecasting a gloomy outlook and taking a swipe at the Federal Government’s New Vehicle Emissions Standards that kicked in on January 1.“While overall consumer preferences remain clear with SUVs and Light Commercial vehicles continuing to dominate the market and especially the top ten sales, many vehicles in these segments are either difficult or expensive to decarbonise. This will prove to be a significant challenge in meeting the extremely ambitious targets of the New Vehicle Efficiency Standard (NVES) which began on 1 January 2025,” Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries Chief Executive Tony Weber said in a media release.“The industry is responding to NVES by increasing the range of zero and low emission vehicles on offer. However, a continuation of current customer buying preferences will inevitably lead to the accrual of substantial penalties under the Government’s new scheme, which will create price inflation within the new vehicle market.”

If you want a big beefy engine under the bonnet of your dual-cab, it might be now or never.

It’s been another huge year at CarsGuide, especially when it comes to our video content.

The Toyota RAV4 hybrid topped sales charts again in November, but it isn’t likely to take the number one spot from the Ford Ranger this year.

Here are a few of our favourite special-edition and/or unique ute grades denied to Australian buyers.

Isuzu has launched its D-Max ute and MU-X SUV in Thailand with a brand new 2.2-litre turbo-diesel engine and eight-speed automatic transmission.It will go on sale in Thailand – where both models are built for Australia – on November 28. The new engine, dubbed the RZ4F, is an advancement on the 1.9-litre R4ZE-TC engine sold in Australia and a likely successor to the more powerful 3.0-litre 4JJ3-TCX.According to an international Isuzu media release, “the new powerful RZ4F engine combined with 8-speed automatic transmission brings significant improvements to start-up capability, acceleration, and fuel efficiency compared to existing models.”It also adds 10kW/50Nm over the 1.9-litre unit it is based on for a total power output of 120kW/400Nm. It is 20kW/50Nm less potent than the 3.0-litre unit it is poised to replace, though.Those outputs put the new motor bang on with the current output of the GWM Ute (120kW/400Nm) and in the ballpark of the Jac T9 (120kW/410Nm) and KGM Ssangyong Musso (133kW/400-420Nm).It also shares the same 2.2-litre displacement as the brand new Kia Tasman, though the Tasman is capable of a greater 154kW/440Nm.Isuzu is yet to report fuel economy figures or carbon dioxide emissions, but it has stated there will be a considerable improvement in both of these metrics over the 3.0-litre engine, which uses 8.0L/100km and produces 207 grams of carbon per kilometre.The current 1.9-litre unit uses 7.0L/100km and produces 186 grams of carbon per km on the entry-level SX variant, which already makes it one of the better performers in the diesel ute and ute-based SUV segment compared to its four-cylinder rivals.For comparison, the entry-level 2.0-litre turbo-diesel Ford Ranger Hi-Rider uses 7.6L/100km and produces 199 grams of carbon per km, while the 2.4-litre turbo-diesel Toyota HiLux turbo-diesel Workmate uses 7.4-litres and produces 188 grams of carbon.Improved fuel economy is expected thanks to the brand’s new eight-speed torque-converter automatic transmission, which will replace the current six-speed transmission.Isuzu said of the transmission: “The wider gear range, optimised torque, high performance lockup dampers, and gear shift map settings tailored to the RZ4F engine enables improved start-up capability, acceleration, fuel economy and overall performance.”At this stage it is unclear exactly when we will see the new engine option arrive in Australia, with an Isuzu spokesperson telling CarsGuide last week that it was “not in a position to comment on future product plans”.Isuzu Australia said that it was “monitoring reception to the news to ensure any product updates to our local range meet the unique requirements of our local market before introducing any change locally.”As Isuzu’s largest export market, the new 2.2-litre engine is expected to play an important role for the brand locally moving forward, particularly with impending National Vehicle Emission Standards (NVES) set to kick off from January 1 2025.That will see the level of carbon emissions per km capped at 210 grams from next year for light commercial vehicles – which both engines currently on sale fit under – before dropping to 180 grams in 2026.According to the NVES scheme, each gram exceeded on each vehicle over the limit can incur a $100 fine, but car manufacturers can avoid fines by accruing carbon credits for every zero emissions vehicle sold.Isuzu is currently without one in its local lineup, but an electric version of the D-Max has been confirmed for sale in Australia from late-2025 after a production-ready version made an appearance at the Bangkok International motor show earlier this year.Isuzu also employs the 1.9-litre engine with mild-hybrid technology in Thailand, which delivers improved fuel efficiency over the non-hybrid engine.The mild-hybrid version hasn’t been confirmed for Australia yet, but both electrified models could theoretically lower the brand’s fuel emissions average and allow it to continue selling a diesel-powered variant in the form of the new 2.2-litre diesel without passing higher costs onto consumers.

At long last, Isuzu’s Thailand division has confirmed rumours that the brand will launch a new smaller diesel engine for its two-strong 4x4 line-up.

Are you wondering when Australia’s third best-selling ute, the Isuzu D-Max, is finally going hybrid? The simple answer is: not yet.

The most expensive yet capable Isuzu D-Max ute ever sold in Australia has landed, targeting the likes of the Nissan Navara Warrior, Ford Ranger Tremor and Toyota HiLux Rogue. Developed, modified and tuned in Melbourne by the Walkinshaw Automotive Groupe for Isuzu Ute Australia (IUA), the D-Max Blade 4x4 goes on sale in Australia on November 1, priced from $76,990 driveaway.