Toyota has once again claimed the title of Australia’s most popular new vehicle brand in 2024, leading the automotive industry to another year of record sales, but peak industry body, the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI), warned that 2025 would be tougher going.

The cautious outlook was prompted by consumers facing a tough start to 2025 due to economic and political challenges, the organisation said.

This comes off the back of monthly December sales data showing that 95,895 new vehicles were sold during the month, 2.7% lower than the same period in 2023.

Despite softening market conditions in the final months of 2024, the year still delivered the best result recorded in Australia with total sales of 1,220,607 new vehicles representing an increase of 0.3% on 2023.

For the calendar year 2024, Toyota was the biggest selling brand with sales of 241,296 and 19.8% market share followed by Ford (100,170/8.2%); Mazda (95,987/7.9%); Kia (81,787/6.7%) and Mitsubishi (74,587/6.1%).

Toyota’s victory marked its 22nd consecutive year of market leadership, with its 2024 sales performance breaking the Japanese brand’s previous record of 238,983 set in 2008.

The company said the result was driven by the popularity of the brand’s hybrid electric vehicles (HEV), particularly RAV4, which has moved ahead of HiLux as the best-selling Toyota.

The RAV4 was Australia’s best-selling SUV for the fifth consecutive year, notching 58,718 sales, including 55,902 hybrid-electric variants.

Hybrid-electric vehicles made up close to half Toyota’s annual sales volume in 2024 with Toyotas dealers delivering 118,081 HEVs.

The company predicts that percentage is likely to increase in 2025 following the company’s decision during 2024 to offer hybrid powertrains exclusively in its passenger vehicles and light-duty SUVs.

The Ford Ranger was Australia's top-selling vehicle in 2024.

Despite Toyota’s dominance, it was the Ford Ranger ute that finished 2024 as the single biggest selling nameplate, with combined sales of Ranger 4x2 and 4x4 utes totalling 62,593 vehicles.

FCAI Chief Executive Tony Weber said that while very strong sales in the first half of 2024 set up the full-year result, momentum in the market was lost as the year progressed.

“The second half of the year showed a concerning trend with sales in the private segment falling to very low levels as interest rates and general cost-of-living pressures impacted Australian families,” Mr Weber said.

“Customers are also increasingly making choices regarding environmental outcomes and the associated total cost of ownership of moving to low-emissions technologies.

“So, while the sales of battery electric vehicles are lower than expected, this is offset to a degree by an increasing number of buyers turning to hybrid and plug-in hybrid models which make up 14.1% and 1.9% of the total market respectively.

“While overall consumer preferences remain clear with SUVs and Light Commercial vehicles continuing to dominate the market and especially the top 10 sales, many vehicles in these segments are either difficult or expensive to decarbonise.”

Search and compare new cars

Mr Weber said this would prove to be a significant challenge in meeting the ambitious targets of the New Vehicle Efficiency Standard (NVES) which began on 1 January this year.

“The industry is responding to NVES by increasing the range of zero and low-emission vehicles on offer,” he said.

“However, a continuation of current customer buying preferences will inevitably lead to the accrual of substantial penalties under the Federal Government’s new scheme, which will create price inflation within the new vehicle market.”

Mr Weber said lower-than-expected sales results for battery electric vehicles were being replicated in several major markets around the world.

“Governments around the world have set regulations that are ahead of available zero emissions technologies and this is impacting both car makers and consumers,” he said.

“Manufacturers in the UK, Europe and the USA are under pressure because they have made huge investments to manufacture EVs, but customers are not buying them in the numbers needed to meet emission targets and to provide a return on investment.

“In Australia, ideally, we will continue to see governments continue to invest in EV recharging infrastructure across the country. The Commonwealth Government should apply revenue raised through NVES penalties to recharging infrastructure.”

Mr Weber also urged the Commonwealth Government to support its emissions reduction policies by considering ongoing consumer support such as a continuation of the FBT exemption for plug-in hybrid vehicles which is due to end on 1 April.

Let us do the work finding your next new car