Ford has confirmed its rising popularity within the 4×4 pick up segment, with its Ranger model achieving record sales throughout the first half of 2017.
Overall sales of the model rose by 21 percent year-on-year to 63,525 vehicles in Asia Pacific, led by a record performance in Australia of 21,638 sales.
In New Zealand, Ranger continues to be its number one best-selling vehicle overall, pulling further away from the pack with sales in the first half of 2017 growing 24 percent to the highest retail sales volume of 4,980 vehicles.
Ford Australia’s President and CEO Graeme Whickman suggested the result was a win for both businesses and individuals.
“Demand for Ford Ranger continues to rise as consumer needs evolve towards a versatile vehicle that can be used for both work and play.
“The unmatched combination of smart technologies, design, fuel-efficiency and comfort of the Ranger represents everything that our customers look for in a versatile vehicle and we expect demand will continue to rise,” he added.
Meanwhile June car sales saw the Toyota HiLux 5461 remain the highest selling vehicle, with its Corolla model also a big seller alongside the Hyandai Tucson and Mazda3.
When it comes to Australian car sales, the Toyota HiLux is still the one to beat.
In overall brand sales, Kia showed the highest year on year growth of over 30 per cent, while Holden was down over 18 per cent.
The results indicate a shift in vehicle tastes both at a consumer and fleet level as buyers continue to abandon smaller passenger vehicles in favour of larger SUVs and utes.
Highest selling cars (June 2017)
- Toyota HiLux 5461 — up 18.4 per cent
- Ford Ranger 5051 — up 23.8 per cent
- Toyota Corolla 3830 — down 13.5 per cent
- Hyundai Tucson 3741 (new model)
- Mazda3 3490 — down 15.1 per cent
- Hyundai i30 3471 — down 46 per cent
- Toyota Camry 3191 — up 4.7 per cent
- Mitsubishi Triton 2995 — up 4.8 per cent
- Mazda CX-5 2487 — down 5.9 per cent
- Toyota RAV4 2460 — up 17.8 per cent
Highest selling brands (June 2017)*
- Toyota 24,546 — up 11.2 per cent
- Mazda 12,501 — up 0.4 per cent
- Hyundai 12,251 — down 0.4 per cent
- Holden 9273 — down 18.5 per cent
- Mitsubishi 9266 — up 6.2 per cent
- Ford 8853 — up 6.5 per cent
- Kia 6737 — up 30.3 per cent
- Nissan 6690 — down 1.3 per cent
- Volkswagen 6447 — up 8.7 per cent
- Honda 5412 — up 2.8 per cent
Source: Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI)
*June sales compared to the same month in 2016.
