VFACTS April 2025: Australian new vehicle deliveries drop
April was a disappointing month for new car sales, with drops across every state and territory and for private, business and government sales.
A total of 90,614 new vehicles were delivered in April 2025, representing a drop of 6.8 per cent on the same month last year.
Hybrids – after months of double-digit year-on-year growth – finally hit a wall. A total of 14,288 were delivered, down 6.0 per cent on April 2024's tally.
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Plug-in hybrids (PHEVs) continued to record YoY growth with 2601 deliveries in April representing an upsurge of 95.4 per cent. However, the end of the Fringe Benefits Tax (FBT) exemption from April 1 likely explained why overall PHEV deliveries slumped from 6932 deliveries in March.
Electric vehicle (EV) sales fell 3.0 per cent in April to 6010 deliveries, with an influx of affordable options – primarily from China – offset by a huge drop in Tesla deliveries.
Complicating sales reporting is the lack of a unified platform for publishing vehicle deliveries.
Tesla and Polestar ceased sharing their figures for the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries' monthly VFACTS report midway through last year.
They now report their figures to the Electric Vehicle Council, whose report is usually published one working day prior to the FCAI's.
Of course, even when these brands did report to the FCAI, the overall delivery tallies weren't 100 per cent accurate. That's because Mahindra has never reported in VFACTS, and it's now been joined by – at least for now – brands such as Cadillac, Deepal, Smart and Xpeng.
Toyota kept its vice grip on the top spot despite a 6.7 per cent decline compared with last April, with 19,380 deliveries. That was more than second- and third-place finishers Ford and Mazda combined.
Toyota had a range of models that were down, including some of its hybrid-only vehicles like the Camry sedan (down 55 per cent YoY) and Corolla small car (down 20.8 per cent YoY).
The Ford brand was down 15.2 per cent thanks to drops for the Ranger ute and the related Everest SUV, while Mazda was down 10.0 per cent in part due to lower sales of its most affordable models, the Mazda 2 light car and CX-3 light SUV.
Compared to April 2024, almost every top 10 brand was down.
Exceptions included Hyundai, which was up 7.0 per cent on the back of strong Venue, Kona and Santa Fe SUV sales, as well as Nissan which was up 27.0 per cent thanks to increases for the X-Trail mid-size SUV, Navara ute and Patrol upper-large SUV.
Chinese brands generally had a good month, with seventh-placed GWM up 16.3 per cent despite drops for larger models like its Cannon ute and Tank 500 large SUV.
BYD only just squeaked into the top 10, but with 3207 deliveries it was up 127.4 per cent YoY year thanks to new models like the Sealion 6 and Sealion 7 medium SUVs and the Shark 6 ute.
Chery posted the biggest year-over-year increase at 290.9 per cent, putting it in 14th place. Polestar also recorded a significant jump with deliveries up 102 per cent.
Meanwhile, the likes of Volvo, Skoda, KGM SsangYong and Peugeot all posted declines of more than 40 per cent year-over-year.
Tesla had them beat, however, with an alarming 75.9 per cent YoY drop.
The Toyota HiLux reclaimed the title of Australia's favourite new vehicle in April, posting 4121 deliveries – just 90 units ahead of the Ford Ranger.
However, the Toyota is still behind the Ford in terms of year-to-date figures, sitting at 15,120 units against 17,257 for the Ranger.
Ford did sell exactly one more Everest (2234) than Toyota did of its Prado (2233), though in the large SUV segment it's the Toyota substantially ahead in year-to-date deliveries (10,674 versus 7220).
Toyota still had Australia's best-selling SUV with the mid-size RAV4, posting 3808 deliveries, and the best-selling passenger car with the Corolla, notching 1660 deliveries.
There were some top-10 models from outside the Ford and Toyota brands, of course. The Kia Sportage took seventh with 1701 deliveries, with the Nissan X-Trail in ninth with 1615 and yet another medium SUV, the Mazda CX-5, in 10th with 1607.
Includes Tesla and Polestar sales.
Includes Tesla and Polestar sales.
Excludes Tesla and Polestar sales.
Excludes Tesla, Polestar and heavy commercial sales.
Excludes heavy commercial sales.
MORE:
VFACTS March 2025: Ford Ranger back on top as market expands for the first time this year
MORE:
VFACTS February 2025: Petrol, diesel and EV sales drop as PHEVs, hybrids surge
MORE:
VFACTS January 2025: Slow start to slower year
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