AUSTRALIAN new car buyers can’t seem to get enough of dual cab utes with the Ford Ranger and Toyota Hilux continuing their tussle at the top of the sales charts, preliminary sales figures for the month of June show.

It is the Hilux which wins though; with 5461 examples of the dual cab ute rolling off showroom floors last month.

The Hyundai Tuscon leads the country’s SUV charge, with 3741 of the high-riding soft-roaders being sold in June, while the Mazda 3 rounded out the top five vehicles with 3490 sales. The all-new Hyundai i30 recorded its first full month of sales in June, but was bumped from the top five by a scant 19 sales.

Toyota sold almost double the number of cars of its closest competitor in June, and accounted for 18.3 percent of all cars sold in the country during the month.

Next was Ford (8853), Nissan (6690), Kia (6737), Volkswagen (6447), and Honda (5412) completing the top 10.

In total, 134,171 cars were sold in June, bringing the year-to-date tally to 599,552 nationally – an increase of 1,412 year on year.

SUV sales tallied 51,393 for the month, while passenger car sales were 50,646. Just 28,253 light commercial vehicles were sold during the same time (including vans and light buses), however this still represents an increase of 12.2 percent month on month.

Private sales accounted for 68,150 cars being sold last month, but business/fleet sales boomed to 52,039.

While there is no denying the numbers presented by the Ranger and Hilux, when it comes to cars being placed in private driveways around Australia, the best-selling car race is probably far tighter.

Note that the above figures are based on preliminary sales data – official VFACTS sales figures will be released at midday today.