Which will be Australia's top-selling vehicle Ford or Toyota?

Toyota says it’s not concerned about the prospect of the Ford Ranger beating the Toyota HiLux to the 2023 sales crown, and claims sales figures alone don’t represent just how popular the HiLux is.

With just one month remaining of what is already a record-breaking year for new-vehicle sales, the Ranger is advancing rapidly on the HiLux and now lies only 379 sales behind.

To the end of November 2023, the HiLux has notched up 55,968 sales compared to the Ranger’s 55,589, narrowing the Toyota’s sales lead from 779 last month.

If Ford can bridge that gap this month, it would end the HiLux’s seven-year streak as Australia’s top-selling new vehicle (and ute), and put a Ford on top of the nation’s annual sales chart for the first time in 28 years.

But Toyota Australia’s vice-president of sales, marketing and franchise operations, Sean Hanley, told carsales he’s not going to cry himself to sleep if the latest Australian-developed Ranger, which was launched last year, finally topples the HiLux – which won’t be renewed until 2025 – for the first time.

“I’m not worried because it is what it is. It’s an ultra-competitive market,” he stated.

“Ultimately, we’d like for the HiLux to be number one, of course we would. Just as I’m sure if you asked the Ford person, they’d want Ranger to be number one.”

However, if Ford delivers about 400 more utes than Toyota in December, Toyota’s local sales chief says it will be hollow victory for the Ranger in 2023 because registration figures are more a reflection of supply than demand this year.

“When you look at VFACTS, traditionally it’s been the barometer of sales, but now I think it’s the barometer of who’s got what to deliver. And that's reality this year,” said Hanley.

“Now, that’ll correct itself next year as order banks drop – and they’re already dropping now – and as demand comes off.

“We think the HiLux is a great product and the last 12 months has really been interesting.

“So it’s a case of what we can deliver this year, it’s not necessarily reflective of the true demand of the market. And I’m sure if you spoke to our competitors in Ford or others, they’d probably say the same thing.”

Indeed, freer supplies of the Ranger from Thailand since Ford Australia invested in a three-year lease on a car-carrying ship to help reduce long waiting lists in August likely played a key role in the Ranger breaking its monthly sales record in November with 6301 sales – up from 6215 in October.

However, the HiLux’s single monthly record of 7582 units – set in June 2022 – is significantly higher and neither model is likely to reach the record annual sales figure of 64,391 set by the HiLux in 2022.

Whatever occurs in the marketplace over the final weeks of 2023, a ute will remain Australia’s most popular new vehicle for the eighth consecutive year.

And dual-cab 4x4 utes – led by the Ford Ranger – are likely to remain Australia’s second most popular new vehicle type behind medium SUVs for several years to come, with a gaggle of new models coming soon.

They will be led in February 2024 by the new Mitsubishi Triton (the nation’s third best selling ute in 2022), followed later next year by the facelifted Isuzu D-MAX (the third most popular ute this year) and then all-new entrants from the likes of BYD and Kia.