Toyota leading the pack, but Tesla accelerating fast

Consumers are confidently snapping up new vehicles, and while they continue to gravitate towards the biggest brands, they’re also showing increasing interest in greener vehicles.

A total of 269,002 new vehicles were sold in the first three months of 2023, which was 2.5% more than the first quarter of 2022, according to the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI).

That said, sales in the month of March were 3.9% lower than the year before.

FCAI Chief Executive Tony Weber said “March was a solid month for new car sales given the supply constraints car makers are facing both domestically and internationally,” but that the quarterly number was “a better indicator of the underlying strength of the market”.

In a sign of changing buyer preferences, the number of battery electric vehicles sold in March was 19.5% higher than the year before, while plug-in-hybrid sales were 33.3% higher.

“This growth demonstrates that where Australians can afford a battery electric vehicle which suits their lifestyle, they will buy them,” Mr Weber said.

Toyota leads the way

Toyota was the market leader in March, capturing 13.6% of all new vehicle sales. Next came Mazda (8.5%), Ford (6.7%), Kia (6.6%) and Mitsubishi (6.0%).

The top-selling models in March were:

• Toyota Hi-Lux = 4.7% of all sales.
• Ford Ranger = 4.6%.
• Isuzu D-Max = 2.9%.
• Mitsubishi Outlander = 2.2%.
• Tesla Model Y = 2.0%.

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