Toyota Hilux leads Ford Ranger on the August 4x4 sales charts

THE top three on the 4x4 monthly sales charts remains unchanged from last month, with the Toyota Hilux again outselling the Ford Ranger in its attempt to claw back the overall lead.

Sales of the Hilux 4x4 increased 31.9 per cent when compared to July 2017, while sales of the Ranger 4x4 jumped 29.7 per cent. Mitsubishi’s Triton remains steady in third position with a dramatic 63.7 per cent increase in month-to-month sales.

The Holden Colorado and Toyota Land Cruiser wagon round out the top five.

The only change from last month’s top 10 is that the Volkswagen Amarok has slotted in with a 60 per cent month-to-month increase. It replaces Mazda’s BT-50, which only showed a 0.6 per cent increase month-to-month.

Light Commercial Vehicles (LCVs) continue to be a contributing factor to strong sales growth, with sales of pick-up and cab-chassis 4x4s up 23 per cent compared to August, 2016 – two-wheel drive models also increased by 2.7 per cent.

Many new LCVs were snatched up by private buyers, with private LCV sales up 23.4 per cent compared to August, 2016 – LCV sales to business also jumped 12.8 per cent.

As expected, diesel engines continue to surge in the market, with sales of diesel-powered LCVs to private buyers rising 26.3 per cent (diesel sales also rose 18.8 per cent to non-private buyers) compared to the same month last year.

Overall, Australians are buying more new cars than ever, with August sales totalling 96,662 sales, a 1.8 per cent increase on August last year. Year-to-date figures are also strong, with 4588 more new cars finding homes compared to 2016.

According to Tony Weber, the chief executive of the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries, the strong growth of the industry is due in part to the rising popularity of SUVs and LCVs.

“More new models coming into the market in both these segments is creating strong consumer interest and helping to fuel the industry’s momentum,” Weber said.

“This August result provides confidence that should all the positive contributing factors within the economy remain in place, sales during the back half of the year will keep us on track for another record year.”

When combining 4x4 and 4x2 variants, The Hilux and Ranger lead the overall sales charts for the month. The five best-selling vehicles from August are: Toyota Hilux (4287), Ford Ranger (3588), Toyota Corolla (2948), Hyundai Tucson (2206) and Mazda3 (2163).