TOYOTA DOMINATES IN MAY

MAY 2020 might have represented a big step up for new 4x4 sales over April but overall the market is still way down on previous years; some 33 per cent in total down when compared to 2019.

The strongest player overall, as always, is Toyota, especially in the 4x4 ranks where it held four of the top six positions for the month.

Significantly, Hilux’s 2800 sales were enough to take over the number one sales position year-to-date, from Ford Ranger which only managed 2499 sales in May. Each of those 4x4 utes sold close to 1000 units more than they did in April showing that the market is on the way back and it looks like another two-horse race to the post for 2020.

With the announcement that Hilux will be a 150kw-500nm upgrade to its diesel engine from August, we can expect its sales momentum to continue. Does Ford Australia have anything in its Ranger arsenal to keep up?

As predicted last month, a strong sales month for Toyota Prado was enough for it to edge its way in to third place year-to-date, bumping Mitsubishi Triton back to fourth spot. Prado and Landcruiser showed that there’s still a strong appetite out there for full-size 4x4 wagons, while even the LC79 outsold the popular one-tonne utes such as D-max, Navara and Triton.

A new addition to the charts for May was the Jeep Gladiator pickup with 71 registrations against its name. These were the dealer demos and marketing fleet, as the first Gladiators only started to go out to customers at the start of June. It will be interesting to see how well the new Jeep sells.

The 4x4 ute segment totalled 10,979 sales in total for May, only beaten by the popular and packed medium SUV class which moved 11,477 units. But significantly for the utes, that’s only 23.4 per cent down on May last year, while some other segments of the new-car market are down 40, 50 and up to 66 per cent.