Ford Ranger and Toyota Hilux lead April sales charts

THE Ford Ranger remains the best-selling 4x4 on the market, again shifting more units in a month than the Toyota Hilux (2708 versus 2607).

The Ranger has stood ahead of the pack on the 4x4 sales charts for every month so far this year, giving it 22.2 per cent year-to-date cut of the overall 4x4 market. For April, the Hilux has again taken the silver medal (a consistent theme this year), sharing a 20.8 per cent slice (year-to-date).

Holden’s Colorado has bumped the Triton from third spot on the podium this month, shifting 1622 units (a 51.6 per cent increase month-to-month) to the Mitsubishi’s 1114, while the Prado finished fourth with 1301 monthly sales.

Despite being a weaker sales month overall, Light Commercial Vehicles continue to perform well, scoring a 3.1 per cent increase for April. Even more impressive was the performance of 4x4 utilities, which notched up a monthly increase of 11.1 per cent.

Explaining the slow overall activity, Tony Weber, chief executive of the FCAI, said: “There were two less selling days overall in April this year compared with last, but added to this was the dampening effect that the holiday period had on dealership traffic as many families headed off to enjoy a final break before winter.”

Further proving the current dominance of LCVs, the Toyota Hilux (4x4 and 4x2) topped the overall sales market with 3430 sales, and the Ford Ranger (4x2 and 4x2) was the next best with 3120.

These were followed by the Corolla (2555 sales), Mazda3 (2313) and CX-5 (2313).