And the most popular car in Brisbane is ...

Josh Roudon is behind the wheel of Brisbane’s most popular make and model of car.

The 27-year-old carpenter is in a Toyota Hilux driving home just after 3pm, knock-off time for tradies. “I was just looking at three Hiluxes at one set of lights,” he says.

A Brisbane Times analysis of federal Department of Transport data reveals the most popular cars by postcode, and which areas buck the trend.

A Toyota Hilux is the most popular vehicle in 86 of the 140 postcodes that make up Greater Brisbane.

Even if you do not own a Hilux, it is likely there is a Toyota in your driveway.

Brisbane drivers prefer Japanese-made cars over European models: the top three vehicles are the Toyota Hilux, Toyota Corolla and Toyota Landcruiser.

Roudon has owned all three. He previously owned a Toyota Landcruiser, and he learnt to drive in a Toyota Corolla. “I’ve always been around Toyotas,” he says.

Carpenter Josh Roudon behind the wheel of his Toyota Hilux.

He has stayed loyal to the brand, even after his old Landcruiser “turned out to be a lemon”.

“Apart from that Landcruiser, they’re tried and tested – and they’re reliable,” he said, adding that his dual-cab Hilux ute was ideal for his work, his young family, and camping trips.

“When we found out [my partner] Larissa was pregnant with our second child, I bought the Hilux.”

The Ford Ranger, Hyundai i30 and Nissan Navara are the only non-Japanese vehicles in the top 10.

However, the data reveals there is a divide between inner and outer suburbs in the Toyota of choice. The Toyota Corolla is the preferred car in 51 inner-city postcodes.

Two areas buck the Toyota trend, but not the preference for Japanese cars. Drive through the streets of Camp Hill, Carina and Carindale (postcode 4152) or Albany Creek and Bridgeman Downs (postcode 4035) and you are more likely to see a Mazda 3 than any other car.

John Dawes, a professor of marketing at the University of South Australia, said buyers often consider one or two car brands at most.

“People don’t search around as much as you would think. The repeat purchase rate is about 50 per cent, and it’s a bit higher if you drive a popular car. It’s known as the double-jeopardy pattern – big brands get more loyalty,” Dawes said.

He said Toyota’s popularity in Brisbane could be a hangover of decades-old buying habits, with people turning to imported cars because Queensland was never a big car manufacturing state like Victoria and South Australia.

Dawes said research showed that a person’s proximity to car dealerships was also a key factor in their vehicle choice. This theory supported Toyota’s success in the local market, he said.

“It’s almost impossible to think about buying a car and not have Toyota come into your mind,” Dawes said.

The 4000 postcode (Brisbane City) is the other outlier. The Ford Ranger is the most common vehicle there, but this may be the result of businesses registering their fleet of company cars to the CBD postcode.

Luxury cars are most likely found on the Glitter Strip of Surfers Paradise (postcode 4217). The beachside postcode has more Porsches, Ferraris, Lamborghinis and Aston Martins than any other area of Queensland.

There are 541 Porsches registered in the Surfers Paradise, Main Beach and Chevron Island postcode (including 173 Porsche Macans, 167 Porsche Cayennes and 100 Porsche 911s), 46 Ferraris, 31 Lamborghinis and 31 Aston Martins.

However, this could be partly attributed to a cluster of luxury car dealerships in the area.

There are at least 10 DeLoreans registered in Queensland – the car that transported Doc Brown and Marty McFly to the year 1955 in Back To The Future – and at least six Goggomobils, the German microcar best known for featuring in a 1990s Yellow Pages TV advertisement.

A Department of Transport spokesperson said the data helped the government and businesses understand Australia’s current vehicle fleet “and how it is changing over time”.

“This can inform government policy development and planning, as well as wider community awareness. The data is also used by the insurance, secondhand motor vehicle, and … repairers and parts industries to inform business planning,” the spokesperson said.

Interesting facts

The Toyota Hilux ute is the most popular vehicle in Queensland, with 239,648 registered across the state.

Queenslanders like their utes. In NSW and Victoria, the Toyota Corolla is the most common vehicle and the Hilux ranks second and fourth, respectively.

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