The Ford Ranger and the Toyota HiLux place first and third respectively in overall Australian vehicle sales. However these chart-topping positions might skew your perception of who is actually buying them.
Top selling positions held by the Ford Ranger and Toyota HiLux are underpinned by sales to businesses and government, not private buyers.
Just 20 per cent of Ranger, and 24 per cent HiLux purchasers in 2025 were private buyers, with the remainder government, business, and rental buyers, the latest Australian vehicle sales data from the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) shows.
The Ranger and the HiLux place first and third, respectively, in overall Australian vehicle sales. But once government, business, and rental buyers are excluded from the figures, the Ranger and HiLux drop out of the top five sold vehicles in Australia.
Despite lower overall sales, the Toyota HiLux was more popular among private buyers (12,529 private sales) than the Ford Ranger (11,516 private sales). These figures combine sales of both 4x2 and 4x4 variants of the HiLux and Ranger.
Best-selling models among private buyers in Australia
| BRAND | MODEL | PRIVATE SALES | GOVERNMENT SALES | BUSINESS SALES | RENTAL SALES | TOTAL SALES |
| Toyota | Toyota RAV4 | 31413 | 2578 | 12915 | 5041 | 51947 |
| Tesla | Model Y | 17599 | N/A | N/A | N/A | 22239 |
| Mazda | Mazda CX-5 | 15951 | 12 | 5955 | 824 | 22742 |
| BYD | Shark 6 | 15564 | 75 | 2416 | 18 | 18073 |
| Hyundai | Kona | 15521 | 402 | 5938 | 908 | 22769 |
| Chery | Tiggo 4 Pro | 15367 | 46 | 3199 | 1537 | 20149 |
| Toyota | Prado | 14168 | 422 | 10162 | 1354 | 26106 |
| GWM | Haval Jolion | 13984 | 151 | 4376 | 902 | 19413 |
| MG | MG ZS | 12630 | 119 | 6834 | 417 | 20000 |
| Toyota | HiLux | 12529 | 2678 | 32460 | 3630 | 51297 |
| Ford | Everest | 12470 | 1191 | 10920 | 1580 | 26161 |
| Hyundai | Tucson | 12451 | 713 | 5648 | 1333 | 20145 |
| Ford | Ranger | 11516 | 6529 | 37126 | 1384 | 56555 |
The top six vehicles with the highest sales to private buyers in Australia in 2025 were the Toyota RAV4 (31,413), Tesla Model Y (17,599), Mazda CX-5 (15,951), BYD Shark 6 (15564), Hyundai Kona (15,521), and the Chery Tiggo 4 Pro (15,367).
Sales data for Tesla is not published by the FCAI, instead Tesla and Polestar sales data is published by the Electric Vehicle Council (EVC). EVC data does not provide detail on if sales are to the government, businesses or rental companies.
Ranger sales to private buyers were down by 26 per cent compared to 2024 sales, while the HiLux is down 7 per cent.
The Toyota RAV4 was the most popular model amongst private buyers by a significant margin, racking up nearly twice as many private sales as the Mazda CX-5.
The BYD Shark 6 was proportionally the highest selling ute for 2025 among private buyers in Australia, with 86 per cent.
Of all new vehicle sales in 2025, 50 per cent were to private buyers, 42 per cent were to businesses, 6 per cent to rental buyers, and 3 per cent were government buyers.
Max is the News Publishing Coordinator for Drive. He enjoys creating engaging digital content, including videos, podcasts, interactive maps, and graphs. Prior to Drive, he studied at Monash University and gained experience working for various publications. He grew up playing Burnout 3: Takedown on the PS2 and was disappointed when real life car races didn’t have the same physics.
