Top ten Utes – The sales results for 2023 have been released and the news for Utes has been excellent.
The top selling model for the year is the Australian designed and engineered Ford Ranger.
It’s the Ute that Aussies designed for Aussies and the world, and for the first time in 28 years, it’s given Ford the sought-after title of Australia’s #1 selling vehicle. The Ford Ranger 63,356 units in 2023 – up 33% on 2022 – as part of the biggest year for car sales on record.
The Ranger displaced the Toyota HiLux by some 2,000 units. The HiLux had all sorts of supply issues through the year. According to Toyota there is a healthy order book to carry over into 2024, so time will tell for that.
The third best selling Ute is the Isuzu D-Max. With around 31,000 sales it performs well above its weight in sales. A perennial favourite of ours, the D-Max is a solid, robust and reliable Ute.
These three Utes also just happen to be the three best selling individual vehicles for the year.
Next five in the top ten
Following on from the Isuzu is its close cousin the Mazda BT-50, with about 17,500 sales and the familiar Mitsubishi Triton with about a thousand less sales.
Be prepared for a surge in Triton sales in 2024 with the new model arriving.
Next on the top ten list is a surprise, the Land Cruiser 79 series Utes. With sales of around 11,400 its a surprise simply because of the supply issues the model faced. However with the introduction of the new 4 Cylinder automatic transmission model, again, expect a surge in sales for 2024.
Like everywhere in the Auto industry, the Chinese have made inroads into the top ten and the next two models are the GWM with around 9,600 sales and the LDV T60 models with just over 9,000 sales. These present as value for money propositions.
Rounding out the top ten are the Nissan Navara with around 8,500 sale sand the new VW Amarok win tenth place with about 6,500 plus sales.
Special mention should go to the SsangYong Musso which has seen an almost doubling of sales in 2023 and the RAM 1500 models that have taken the dominant position in the large PickUp segment.
This segment is growing now with the Chevrolet Silverado, Ford F150 and the Toyota Tundra all set for growth in sales in 2024.
