Toyota Hilux, Ford Ranger top October new-car sales chart

TRADE utes have dominated the sales chart in October, with both the Toyota Hilux and the Ford Ranger outselling all other vehicles for the month.

The VFACTS sales data for October, released today, shows Toyota’s trade ute snared 3352 sales for the month, while Ford’s version won 3217 buyers. That was enough to put both vehicles ahead of the best-selling passenger car for the month, the Toyota Corolla, with 3210 sales.

The Corolla finished ahead of both the Hyundai i30 (2718) and fifth-placed Mazda 3 (2191) in the passenger car sales race, all cars competing in the small car class that shrunk by 8.8 percent for the month.

It comfortably outsold the Nissan X-Trail (1655) and the Mitsubishi ASX (1650), and the Mazda CX-5 (1612).

Overall, the Australian new-car market tread water in October, falling one percent compared with the same month last year to 93,357 sales. Of interest, the sales gap between passenger cars (37,817, down 7.4 percent) and SUVs (36,442, up 4.9 percent) narrowed even further to fall within a 1.5 percent split of each other.

Significantly, in its last month as an Australian manufacturer, the Falcon large car sold 428 units while the Territory moved 588 units, down only slightly on sales for the same month last year. From this point on, the sales of both models will reflect cars built and stockpiled since the October 7 shutdown. The Falcon ute, which wrapped up production in late July, sold just 88 units.

Despite Ford quitting Aussie manufacturing early in the month, and the plug pulling on local Holden Cruze production, the number of cars made and sold here held reasonably steady at 7179. Ford (1099) was down, but both Holden (3609) and Toyota (2471) grew compared with October last year.

The market overall, up 2.4 percent year-to-date, is still setting a record-breaking pace. Combined sales are at 980,443, placing it more than 23,000 ahead of the same time last year. With two months to go, expect the full-year figure to easily pass the record 1.155 million sales posted in 2015.

Top 10 sellers in October 2016

Top 10 selling brands in October 2016