Australia’s love affair with utes intensified last month, with three of the top-five vehicles sold here equipped with trays on the back.

The return of fleet buyers from their Christmas hiatus helped the Toyota Hilux and Ford Ranger regain the top-two positions, with 4245 and 3845 registrations respectively, with the Mitsubishi Triton (2670) overtaking the outgoing Hyundai i30 (2383) to claim fifth spot.

The sales spike was also due to the continued dominance of SUVs, which extended their lead over passenger cars and accounted for 39.4 percent of the total market.

FCAI CEO Tony Weber said the ratio between SUV and passenger vehicles appear to be becoming the new ‘norm’.

“Two months in succession of SUV sales leading the market is further confirmation of a trend we’ve been observing for some time,” said Weber.

“The SUV segment is now the dominant sector, whereas this time last year passenger cars led the market by around 10,000 sales. Clearly, the shift in market dynamics is accelerating.”

The Mazda CX-5 continued its reign as the top-selling SUV with 2116 sales, despite the all-new model being weeks away, with the Hyundai Tucson (2156) not far behind.

One car that did manage to hang in there was the Holden Commodore, which remained the 10th biggest selling car thanks to a boost in sales, up from 1566 in February to 2081.

While the monthly bump is good news for Holden, it’s worth putting into perspective with year to date sales (5607) which are 8.6 percent down on last year.

Holden’s communications director Sean Poppitt told Wheels the demand for Commodore remained high but continued to fluctuate, adding that the company was heading in the right direction after a “soft February” but was “focused on doing better”.

Trax also recorded its best ever first quarter result this year so while we’ve got a lot of work to do, plenty of positive trends,” said Poppitt.

Holden remained the fifth most popular brand in March behind Mitsubishi, whose recent success may well give the suits at Fisherman’s Bend further hope that there is indeed life after local production ends.

Top 10 brands, March 2017

1. Toyota – 19,652 2. Mazda – 10,472 3. Hyundai – 8700 4. Mitsubishi – 7583 5. Holden – 7211 6. Ford – 6852 7. Nissan – 5620 8. Volkswagen – 5122 9. Subaru – 5006 10. Kia – 4684

Top 10 selling cars, March 2017

1. Toyota Hilux – 4245 2. Ford Ranger – 3845 3. Toyota Corolla – 3574 4. Mazda3 – 3039 5. Mitsubishi Triton – 2670 6. Hyundai i30 – 2383 7. Toyota Camry – 2336 8. Hyundai Tucson – 2156 9. Mazda CX-5 – 2116 10. Holden Commodore – 2081