What are the most popular cars in Australia?

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Every year, around 1 million people purchase a new car in Australia – but which models of car are the most popular with local buyers? Each month, we report on the top-selling cars, SUVs and utes in Australia, keeping track of which vehicles Australians like the most.

Fleets and small business buyers contribute a huge number of purchases in Australia, but private buyers also dictate many of the models that fall in the top ten each month.

Which cars are competing the most fiercely in 2022? Last year, in 2021, the big winners were the Toyota Hilux ute, the Ford Ranger ute, and the Toyota RAV4 midsize SUV.

Most popular cars and utes in Australia: April 2022

The new car market was weak in April 2022, with numbers down a staggering 12 percent when compared to April 2021. Total sales were 81,065 for the month, bringing the 2022 year-to-date tally to 343,501 cars. The Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) blamed industry shortages, particularly of semiconductors.

In April 2022, the top-ten best selling models were the following:

• Toyota Hilux ute: 4493 sales
• Ford Ranger ute: 3581 sales
• Toyota RAV4 midsize SUV: 3373 sales
• Mazda CX-5 midsize SUV: 2701 sales
• Isuzu D-Max ute: 2374 sales
• Mitsubishi Triton ute: 2357 sales
• Toyota Corolla small car: 2202 sales
• Hyundai i30 small car: 2071 sales
• MG ZS small SUV: 1923 sales
• Toyota Land Cruiser large SUV

Four of the top ten vehicles were utes, made up of 4×2 and 4×4 models in all cab styles. Fleet and business sales contribute a significant chunk of ute sales in Australia. Toyota’s Hilux remained firmly on top – in both 4×2 and 4×4 variants – but the incoming T6.2 Ford Ranger upgrade should bolster that model’s performance in coming months.

The supply-embattled Toyota RAV4 midsize SUV continued to be Australia’s favourite car (or perhaps ‘non-ute’), but its result represented a huge 25 percent drop when compared to its performance at this time last year, allowing Mazda’s CX-5 to draw near.

While the CX-5 has just been facelifted, the RAV4 is set for significant tech and safety upgrades at the end of 2022.

Both small cars in the top ten – the Corolla and i30 (read our comparison!) – are putting on strong performances this year, defying the general shift to SUVs.

The biggest winner was the Chinese-made MG ZS small SUV, which nearly broke through 2000 sales in April, while Toyota’s struggle to secure sufficient numbers of Land Cruiser saw the model (which blends the 70 and 300 Series) fall to just 1665 sales – essentially halving its performance compared to last year.

Sales across the total Australian new car market dropped perilously from the March 2022 number (101,233) to just 81,065 for the month of April. All states were down compared to April 2021, especially Western Australia (down 20%) and the ACT (down 14%).

At this point, Australia is not set to exceed the total 2021 sales result of 1.049 million new car deliveries, but there are still eight months to be reported.

The best sellers in April 2022 for each segment were:

Segment	Best-seller	April 2022 sales	Growth this year
Micro cars	Kia Picanto	555	Down 23%
Light SUVs	Kia Stonic	949	Up 46%
Light cars	MG MG3	1615	Up 34%
Light cars (luxury)	Mini hatch	108	Down 13%
Small SUVs	MG ZS	1923	Up 33%
Small SUVs (luxury)	Volvo XC40	388	Up 16%
Small cars	Toyota Corolla	2202	Down 23%
Small cars (luxury)	Mercedes-Benz A-Class	267	Down 26%
Midsize SUVs	Toyota RAV4	3373	Steady
Midsize SUVs (luxury)	Mercedes-Benz GLC	397	Up 20%
Midsize cars	Toyota Camry	519	Steady
Midsize cars (luxury)	Mercedes-Benz C-Class	477	Down 36%
Large SUVs	Toyota Prado	1631	Up 72%
Large SUVs (luxury)	BMW X5	184	Down 21%
Large cars	Kia Stinger	316	Up 53%
Large cars (luxury)	Porsche Taycan	58	Down 20%
Upper large SUVs	Toyota Land Cruiser	829	Down 60%
Upper large SUVs (luxury)	Lexus LX	80	Down 49%
Upper large cars	Chrysler 300	13	Down 14%
Upper large cars (luxury)	Mercedes-Benz S-Class	14	Down 19%
People movers	Kia Carnival	483	Down 15%
People movers (luxury)	Mercedes-Benz V-Class	23	Up 19%
Sports cars	Ford Mustang	97	Down 43%
Sports cars (luxury)	BMW 4 Series	58	Down 15%
Sports cars (high-end)	Porsche 911	40	Up 29%
Small vans	Renault Kangoo	73	Up 139%
Large vans	Toyota Hiace	657	Up 4%
Utes (4×2)	Toyota Hilux 4×2	1052	Up 15%
Utes (4×4)	Toyota Hilux 4×4	3441	Up 2%

Next update coming in early June

We’ll report Australian sales numbers for May 2022 early next month as we approach the bumper end of financial year month in June.