√VFACTS July 2023: Record new-car sales, Ford Ranger number one, MG ZS third

Deliveries of new cars grew last month – and set a new July record – amid increased arrivals of customer vehicles already on order, rather than rising demand. The Ford Ranger beat the Toyota HiLux – but there were some upsets further down the leaderboard.

More new motor vehicles were reported as sold in Australia last month than any previous July on record – and 15 per cent more than the same month last year.

However most vehicles reported as sold were ordered last year – and the sales figures are not necessarily reflective of the true demand for new cars in showrooms last month, analysts warn, amid interest rate rises over the past nine months, and higher costs-of-living.

Data published today by the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) industry body shows 96,859 new vehicles as sold last month, up 14.7 per cent on the prior year.

It is the best all-time July result – beating the previous record of 92,754 vehicles reported as sold in July 2017 – and it is up 8.8 per cent on the five-year July average prior to the pandemic of 89,026 vehicles.

Since the start of this year 678,618 new vehicles have been reported as sold.

While this is up 9 per cent on the same period last year, it is down 2 per cent on the all-time record for the first seven months of the year, set in 2017 with 692,306 vehicles – suggesting the strong July result is a surge linked to vehicle arrivals, rather than the true rate of order intake.

Japanese car giant Toyota remained Australia’s top-selling new-car brand, with 19,191 deliveries reported.

Its sales are down 1.9 per cent compared to July 2022 as it continues to struggle with shipping bottlenecks – however it has rebounded from the worst of the delays it experienced earlier this year, when its sales in some months were down 15 to 25 per cent compared to the same months in 2022.

Mazda remained in second place (8307), ahead of Ford (7109), which has recorded its fourth top-three finish of the year off the back of strong deliveries of the Ranger ute.

The Blue Oval brand is followed by Hyundai in fourth (6521), which beat sister brand Kia in fifth (6150) – though Kia still holds the year-to-date lead by a slim margin, with 45,310 reported deliveries compared to Hyundai’s 45,228.

The Ford Ranger has retaken the title of Australia’s top-selling new vehicle last month with 5143 sales reported, compared to 4670 for the Toyota HiLux in second, which recorded a 27.5 per cent decline in deliveries compared to July 2022.

In a surprise upset, the MG ZS small SUV from China took the third-placed position with 3852 sales reported – up 213 per cent compared to July 2022, and up from fourth place on the leaderboard in June.

It is the second time in nine months the MG ZS has finished third on the new-car sales charts, recording the same finish in December 2022 – amid record sales of Chinese cars in Australia.

The Tesla Model Y electric SUV (3330 deliveries) dropped from second place in June 2023, to fourth place last month.

It is the latest in a string of top-five finishes for the Tesla Model Y since it arrived in Australia a year ago – and the US electric-car specialist’s latest cumulative Top 10 finish on the brands leaderboard, recording an eighth-placed result when 604 sales of the Model 3 electric sedan are included.

From fifth onwards there is the Toyota RAV4 with 2750 reported sales, and Toyota Corolla with 2145 sales – the latter a strong result after multiple months of circa-1000 deliveries amid shipping delays and production constraints.

There were only two traditional passengers car in the Top 10, the Toyota Corolla and Hyundai i30 small cars – as the other eight finishers comprised five SUVs and three utes.

The Toyota Prado returned to the Top 10 in July 2023 with 1836 deliveries reported, after facing the worst of the bottlenecks affecting other brands in recent months.

The data reports 6846 electric vehicles as sold – compared to 9696 traditional hybrids, primarily built by Toyota – up 1024 per cent compared to the same month last year, and accounting for 7.0 per cent of new vehicle sales.

Data below supplied by the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI), and compiled by Alex Misoyannis and Kez Casey.

Note: The FCAI has reshuffled some of its categories for the new year, increasing the price limits, adding a new category (utes above $100,000), and moving some vehicles to different categories as their prices have risen (such as the Volkswagen Golf and Subaru WRX, which were previously in the small car under $40,000 category).

TOP 10 CARS IN July 2023

Rank	Model	Volume July 2023	Change year-on-year
1	Ford Ranger	5143	up 75.3 per cent
2	Toyota HiLux	4670	down 27.5 per cent
3	MG ZS	3852	up 213.4 per cent
4	Tesla Model Y	3330	N/A
5	Toyota RAV4	2750	up 12.8 per cent
6	Toyota Corolla	2145	up 8.2 per cent
7	Isuzu D-Max	2070	up 7.3 per cent
8	Hyundai i30	1865	up 6.1 per cent
9	Toyota Prado	1836	up 75.4 per cent
10	Mitsubishi Outlander	1778	up 35.7 per cent

TOP 10 CAR BRANDS IN July 2023

Rank	Brand	Volume July 2023	Change year-on-year
1	Toyota	19,191	down 1.9 per cent
2	Mazda	8307	up 5.4 per cent
3	Ford	7109	up 60.2 per cent
4	Hyundai	6521	down 4.0 per cent
5	Kia	6150	down 8.4 per cent
6	MG	5347	up 77.2 per cent
7	Mitsubishi	4143	down 26.2 per cent
8	Tesla	3934	up 98,250 per cent
9	Subaru	3553	up 25.9 per cent
10	Isuzu Ute	3340	up 21.5 per cent

Passenger cars: Top Three in each segment in July 2023

Micro	Kia Picanto (823)	Fiat/Abarth 500 (50)	Mitsubishi Mirage (0)
Light < $30k	MG 3 (1040)	Suzuki Swift (681)	Kia Rio (638)
Light > $30k	Mini Hatch (176)	Audi A1 (28)	Skoda Fabia (20)
Small < $40k	Toyota Corolla (2145)	Hyundai i30 (1865)	Mazda 3 (833)
Small > $40k	Volkswagen Golf (388)	Mercedes-Benz A-Class (246)	Audi A3 (237)
Medium < $60k	Toyota Camry (1046)	Skoda Octavia (97)	Mazda 6 (88)
Medium > $60k	Tesla Model 3 (604)	Polestar 2 (306)	BMW 3 Series (232)
Large < $70k	Kia Stinger (92)	Skoda Superb (18)	Citroen C5 X (4)
Large > $70k	BMW 5 Series (63)	Mercedes-Benz EQE (54)	Porsche Taycan (53)
Upper Large > $100k	Mercedes-Benz EQS (10)	Mercedes-Benz S-Class (9)	Porsche Panamera (8)
People Movers	Kia Carnival (964)	LDV Mifa (81)	Hyundai Staria (72)
Sports < $80k	Toyota GR86 (136)	Subaru BRZ (126)	Ford Mustang (120)
Sports > $80k	Mercedes-Benz C-Class coupe/convertible (99)	BMW 4 Series coupe/convertible (62)	Porsche 718 Boxster/Cayman (44)
Sports > $200k	Porsche 911 (49)	Lamborghini sports cars (25)	Ferrari sports cars (24)

SUVs: Top Three in each segment in July 2023

Light SUV	Mazda CX-3 (1563)	Kia Stonic (677)	Hyundai Venue (557)
Small SUV < $45k	MG ZS (3852)	Subaru Crosstrek (1179)	Toyota Corolla Cross (1154)
Small SUV > $45k	BMW X1 (359)	Volvo XC40 (336)	Audi Q3 (285)
Medium SUV < $60k	Toyota RAV4 (2750)	Mitsubishi Outlander (1778)	Hyundai Tucson (1662)
Medium SUV > $60k	Tesla Model Y (3330)	Lexus NX (658)	Mazda CX-60 (628)
Large SUV < $70k	Toyota Prado (1836)	Toyota Kluger (1313)	Ford Everest (1288)
Large SUV > $70k	Land Rover Defender (336)	BMW X5 (309)	Mercedes-Benz GLE (244)
Upper Large SUV < $120k	Toyota LandCruiser wagon (1230)	Nissan Patrol wagon (466)	Land Rover Discovery (42)
Upper Large SUV > $120k	Lexus LX (86)	BMW X7 (82)	Mercedes-Benz G-Class (52)

Utes and vans: Top Three in each segment in July 2023

Vans < 2.5t	Peugeot Partner (37)	Volkswagen Caddy (28)	Renault Kangoo (1)
Vans 2.5t-3.5t	Toyota HiAce van (241)	LDV G10/G10+ (239)	Hyundai Staria Load (162)
4×2 Utes	Toyota HiLux (893)	Isuzu D-Max (389)	Ford Ranger (315)
4×4 Utes < $100k	Ford Ranger (4828)	Toyota HiLux (3777)	Isuzu D-Max (1681)
Utes > $100k	Ram 1500 (282)	Chevrolet Silverado HD (113)	Chevrolet Silverado 1500 (104)