The top 10 best selling vehicles in Australia

Car buyers are lining up in droves to get their hands on these new cars, with an exciting new ride taking out the top spot from a long time leader.

Australia is now officially the land of utes and SUVs.

More than 87,000 new cars found a home in October and 80 per cent of them were SUVs and utes, according to the latest sales data from the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI).

Passenger cars such as hatchbacks, sedans and sports cars only accounted for about 15 per cent of sales with trucks making up the remainder.

The Ford Ranger (right) and Toyota HiLux were the top selling vehicles in October.

Ten years ago passenger cars made up more than 50 per cent of all new cars sold in Australia, representing a massive shift in buyer preferences in the past decade.

Leading the charge was the new Ford Ranger with 5628 sales, followed by the Toyota HiLux (4890) and Toyota RAV4 SUV (3222).

The Mazda CX-5 (2352) and MG ZS (2293) SUVs rounded out the top five.

Sales of big American-style pick-up trucks are booming, too.

Buyers of some of these top models are still facing wait times of more than 12 months.

Head of the FCAI, Tony Weber, said October’s strong sales results shows the industry is continuing to strengthen after being heavily impacted by Covid-19 shutdowns and restrictions.

“This October figure is a positive sign that supply chains are recovering and consistency is returning to the marketplace, but we still have some way to go before it returns to normal,” said Mr Weber.

Electrified vehicles made up more than 10 per cent of all sales in the past month, though, the vast majority of these were hybrids sold by Toyota.

The new Ford Ranger knocked the HiLux out of first spot after months on top.

Fully electric vehicles accounted for more than 2000 sales or 2.5 per cent of the total market.

Encouragingly for zero-emissions vehicles popularity is starting to snowball with sales up 800 per cent compared to the same time in 2021.

Tesla also accounted for more than half of all new electric vehicles sold throughout October.

The majority of these was the new Model Y SUV that is on track to be the best selling electric vehicle for 2022.

Tesla has already sold more than 15,000 cars this year and is expected to sell more than 20,000 by the end of December.

It has already eclipsed established luxury brands such as Audi and Lexus and is biting at the heels of mainstream brands such as Volkswagen and Nissan.

Overall Toyota is still the most dominant player in the Aussie new car market. About one in five new cars sold this year are from the Japanese brand.

Kia is now the third most popular brand in the nation overtaking Mitsubishi and extending its lead over its stablemate Hyundai.

The Tesla Model Y is driving a spike in electric car sales. Photos by Thomas Wielecki.

Chinese cars continue their rise in popularity.

MG is the standout performer and was the sixth best selling maker during October. It was joined by Great Wall Motors that came in 10th last month.

The MG 3 little hatchback and ZS small SUV were two of the top 10 best selling cars in the nation, showing just how far the brand has come in the past few years.

Australians are also splashing out on expensive rides.

Porsche’s sales are up more than 180 per cent in October and the German maker has sold about 1000 more cars through the first 10 months of this year than last.

Aussies are digging deep for pricey American-style pick-ups, too.

Ram has more than doubled its sales in October and has increased its sales by more than 50 per cent for the whole year.

Prices for the big rigs start at more than $80,000 and go well north $100,000.

Sales of supercars from Lamborghini and Ferrari are also on the rise.

Originally published as The top 10 best selling vehicles in Australia