Drive.com.au
AUSTRALIA’S love affair with the ute is far from over, but electric vehicles are rapidly rewriting the nation’s new-car market.
The Ford Ranger surged back to the top of the sales charts in September, recording 5062 deliveries to beat the Toyota RAV4 on 4624 and Tesla Model Y on 4476.
It marked the Ranger’s first month at number one since March, after deliveries resumed following a stop-sale which heavily impacted its August result.
But the bigger story may be happening beneath the battle for top spot.
Australians bought 26,287 fully electric vehicles during September – more than the 26,018 petrol-only vehicles and 25,173 diesel-only vehicles sold during the month.
EV sales were up a massive 118 per cent compared with September last year.
Once conventional hybrids and plug-in hybrids are added, electrified vehicles accounted for 49.8 per cent of all new vehicles sold during September.
The figures underline just how quickly Australia’s automotive landscape is changing, even as traditional favourites continue to dominate individual model rankings.
The Toyota HiLux finished fourth with 4455 sales, down 11.7 per cent compared with a year earlier, while Chinese manufacturer BYD landed its Sealion 7 in fifth with 2687 deliveries.
Three fully electric vehicles made the national top 10 – the Tesla Model Y, BYD Sealion 7 and Geely EX5.
The EX5 was one of the biggest movers, recording 2008 sales for an extraordinary 620 per cent year-on-year increase.
Overall, 108,778 new vehicles were sold across Australia during September, an increase of 1.8 per cent on the same month last year and the second-highest September result on record.
Toyota remained comfortably Australia’s biggest automotive brand with 17,682 sales, despite its result falling 3.5 per cent year-on-year.
BYD finished second for the sixth consecutive month with 8191 vehicles, an increase of 61.1 per cent compared with last September, putting it ahead of Ford on 7592.
Kia finished fourth with 5901 sales, followed by Mazda on 5702, Tesla on 5654 and GWM on 5212.
Geely was another standout, recording 4473 sales – up a staggering 870 per cent year-on-year to finish 10th.
