Australian demand for new cars shows no sign of slowing down with customers taking delivery of more than one million vehicles this year.
Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries chief executive Tony Weber said 2023 continued to break all-time sales records.
"The Australian market has demonstrated incredible strength and vitality throughout 2023, culminating in Australia reaching one million sales in October for the first time," Mr Weber said.
"After some challenging years through COVID, this milestone speaks to the range of vehicles available to consumers, affirming Australia's position as one of the world's most dynamic and competitive markets. It also reflects vastly improved supply chains.
"In the past six months, five have broken all-time sales records compared with previous years and in October 106,809 new vehicles were delivered to Australian customers."
In October, 38.3 per cent of sales were either in light commercial utes, or the large or upper large SUV vehicle categories.
Conversely, electric vehicle sales softened to represent 5.7pc of the market.
Sales across every state and territory increased last month compared with October 2022.
Victoria led the charge, rising 32pc to 30,740, while New South Wales rose 22.8pc to 33,001.
In the Australian Capital Territory sales were up 18.9 per cent to 1552, Queensland rose 16.4pc to 21,937, South Australia 20pc (6677); Tasmania 20.8pc (1996); Western Australia 12.3pc (10,166) and Northern Territory 1.9pc (740).
The Ford Ranger was the top selling vehicle for the month, recording 6215 sales. It was followed by Toyota HiLux (5766), Isuzu Ute D-Max (3198) Toyota RAV4 (2598) and Toyota Landcruiser (2561).
Ford Australia signed an exclusive three-year lease deal on a vehicle carrier ship in an effort to reduce customer wait times for new vehicles.
The ship, sailing under the name Grand Quest, has been put to work delivering vehicles from Ford's Thailand plants to customers in Australia and New Zealand.
With a capacity of 2600 vehicles, Ford Australia is utilising the Grand Quest to shorten wait times for customers who have placed orders for the Ranger and Everest.
While the Ford Ranger led October sales, Toyota was still the market leader for the month, followed by Mazda and Ford. Toyota led Mazda with a margin of 10,982 vehicle sales and 10.3 market share points.
Toyota had 20,298 sales for the month, with Mazda selling 9316 then Ford (8605), Hyundai (6620) and Mitsubishi (6395).
Paula Thompson
Paula Thompson is ACM's National Machinery and Ag Tech writer. She has been an agricultural journalist for more than 20 years. Prior to her current role, she was a reporter with the Stock Journal, covering livestock markets and the grains industry.
Paula Thompson is ACM's National Machinery and Ag Tech writer. She has been an agricultural journalist for more than 20 years. Prior to her current role, she was a reporter with the Stock Journal, covering livestock markets and the grains industry.
