VFACTs: Toyota HiLux tops Australian vehicle sales in April

The unassailable Ford Ranger remained the best-selling 4×4 vehicle in Australia in April, despite a significant decline in monthly and year-to-date sales.

Ford sold a total of 3776 Ranger 4×4 vehicles in April, representing a decline of 25.8 per cent on the monthly charts – the Blue Oval sold 5089 units in April 2024. It’s also a 16.0 per-cent dip on the year-to-date charts – 16,238 sales in 2025 compared to 19,329 in 2024.

With a recall now in motion for V6-powered Ranger and Everest models built between 2022 and 2025, it’ll be interesting to track sales in the upcoming months.

The Toyota HiLux is already hot on the Ranger’s heels, almost overtaking the big Ford in April. Toyota enticed a total of 3509 consumers to sign for a HiLux 4×4, just 267 sales shy of the Ranger. However, these 

Things get interesting when you combine 4×2 and 4×4 sales, with the HiLux not just outselling the Ranger, but every other vehicle on sale in Australia. The HiLux registered 4121 overall sales, positioning it ahead of the Ranger (4031), Toyota RAV4 (3808), Ford Everest (2234) and Toyota Prado (2233).  

Yep, the Everest outsold the Prado by a solitary sale. They were trialled by the Isuzu MU-X (1223) and 300 Series LandCruiser (1022), both of which registered significant monthly declines – 34.8 per cent and 12.6 per cent respectively.

The BYD Shark ended the month with 1293 customer deliveries in April, lifting year-to-date sales to 6129. A total of 2026 and 2810 sales were registered in February and March, so it’s an interesting watch.

Sales were down across the board in April 2025 compared to April 2024, with both the LCV and PU/CC 4×4 segments declining by 4.6 and 3.1 per cent respectively.

However, when breaking down LCV sales, private sales actually increased by a whopping 17.1 per cent (6.5 per cent year-to-date). Causing the overall decline is a drop-off in business, government and rental sales (-13.0 per cent, -13.2 per cent, and -14.9 per cent respectively).

Diesel sales within the LCV segment also continue to fall, down 9.2 per cent for April 2025 and 11.6 per cent so far this year. A total of 19,215 diesel-powered LCVs were sold in April 2024, compared to 17,451 in April 2025. This is mirrored in SUV sales, which, despite an increase in April 2025 compared to April 2024 (+6.2 per cent), is down 3.7 per cent year-to-date.

The market also experienced a sharp decline in plug-in hybrid sales. A total of 2601 plug-in hybrids were purchased in April, representing 2.9 per cent of sales. This is down from 4.7 per cent in March 2025, with FCAI chief executive Tony Weber attributing this to the removal of the fringe benefits tax (FBT) exemption for these models at the end of March.

“The earlier inclusion of PHEVs in the FBT exemption played a critical role in making these vehicles accessible to more Australians. Removing that support has led to an immediate and disappointing drop in demand in a price-sensitive vehicle market,” Mr Weber said.

“For NVES to succeed, it must be supported by holistic policy settings that assist consumers to move to zero and low-emission technologies, including continued investment in recharging infrastructure,” he said.