For a fourth straight month, the Australian monthly record for new car sales has been broken, as April saw 97,202 vehicles registered, according to VFACTS data released last week by the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI).

This figure easily toppled the previous record of 92,347 (which was achieved in 2021) and represented an increase of 18.3% compared to the same period last year.

It follows in the footsteps of January (89,782), February (105,023) and March (109,647) in getting the Australian automotive industry off to a great start in 2024.

The downturn in sales predicted by industry experts as supply catches up to demand has yet to materialise, but could still occur over the coming months.

Sales of electrified and partially electrified vehicles rose significantly, accounting for 18.3% of all new car registrations in April in contrast to the 7.5% from the same period in 2023. However, the proportion of EV sales fell from 8% to 6.4% this year.

Each vehicle segment saw comfortable growth on last year’s numbers. SUVs continue to be the dominant market force, with 54,135 units sold (+17.6%) meaning that more than one in every two new cars sold across the month was an SUV (55.7% market share).

Passenger cars saw a 14.0% bump compared to April 2023 (17,314, 17.8% market share), while light commercial vehicles rose by 25.5% (21,413, 22.0% market share) and heavy commercial vehicles by 12.6% (4,340, 4.5% market share).

Around the country, all states and territories enjoyed strong growth, with South Australia (6,789, +33.5%) and Tasmania (1,677, +31.9%) the two biggest risers and all the others increasing by between 12.5% and 20%.

Market sales: April 2024

Vehicle sales by state or territory: April 2024

Vehicle brands: April

Toyota’s bumper start to the year continued, racking up 20,771 new car registrations in April to capture 21.4% of the Australian market. This result was also 72.7% higher than what the Japanese giant managed over the corresponding period last year (12,029).

In (a distant) second place for the month was Ford, with the American carmaker enjoying 8,648 registrations (+71.3%). This pushed them clear of Mazda, who managed 7,301 but at an improvement rate of only 5.4%.

After falling behind in March, Kia moved back up to fourth in the monthly standings with 6,653 (+7.3%) to comfortably beat out Mitsubishi, who rounded out the top five (5,314, +19.7%).

Hyundai fell just short of this group, suffering a 9.5% drop in its sales (5,185) compared to last April to mark its third consecutive month outside the top five.

There were several additions to the top ten best-sellers compared to last month, with GWM (3,330, +50.3%) and Subaru (3,246, +29.3%) finishing ninth and tenth, respectively, at the expense of Nissan (2,905, -3.5%) and Tesla (2,077, -43.5%), both of whom saw notable drops in sales.

Isuzu Ute (4,256, +46.6%) and MG (3,781, +9.2%) completed the top ten list. In other news, BMW edged out Mercedes-Benz for the best-selling luxury car brand, recording 2,074 new registrations (+18.5%) compared to 2,057 (-17.2%).

In terms of year-to-date (YTD) sales, Toyota is unsurprisingly streets ahead of the competition, with its 77,009 cars sold in the first third of the year coming at a rate 45.4% greater than at the same point in 2023.

Ford moved into second place, leapfrogging Mazda by just over 250 units off the back of its strong April (31,323 to 31,062), while Kia and Mitsubishi remain neck and neck two spots further back (25,571 to 25,502).

Best-selling vehicle brands: April 2024

Best-selling vehicle brands: 2024

Vehicle models: April

April crowned a new best-selling car model, with the Toyota RAV4 surpassing the Ford Ranger and another Toyota model, the HiLux, with 5,857 new units registered.

This was an improvement of 166.5% compared to April of last year for the RAV4 and marked the third time ever that the mid-size SUV took out top honours, with August of 2020 being the most recent of those.

Not too far behind the RAV4 was the Ranger, which had to settle for second place for the first time since September 2023 with 5,569 models sold (+56.1%) to keep it well ahead of the HiLux (4,693, +33.1%) in third place for the second straight month.

The Ford Everest had a record-breaking month (2,400, +254.5%), putting up huge numbers to move up to fourth overall and outsell the Isuzu Ute D-Max (2,380, +31.6%) by just 20 units.

It was a Toyota-heavy top ten, with the Corolla (2,097, +165.1%) and Camry (1,873, +226.3%) both recording massive improvements to finish sixth and eighth, respectively.

Isuzu Ute also had a second appearance in the list, with the MU-X (1,876, +71.3%) rising to seventh overall ahead of the Camry, Mitsubishi Outlander (1,848, +1.0%) and MG ZS (1,707, +7.5%).

Despite defeat in the monthly sales, the Ranger extended its lead atop the YTD sales rankings, with its 21,330 units sold to date (+23.3%) sitting over 4,000 clear of the HiLux (17,183, +6.2%) and well over 5,000 clear of the RAV4 (15,981, +98.5%).

The Outlander (8,898, +20.5%) rounds out the top five, ahead of close challengers the Corolla (8,508, +106.7%), Tesla’s Model Y (8,001, +52.0%) and the ZS (7,998, +9.2%).

Best-selling vehicle models: April 2024

Best-selling vehicle models: 2024