Australian new-car sales in November 2024: Record market still a chance as RAV4 leads VFACTS again

Sales of new motor vehicles in Australia are still a chance to break records in 2024 – despite deliveries hitting reverse for five of the past six months – as the final hangovers of long wait lists formed in the wake of the pandemic pass.

More new vehicles have been delivered so far this year than all of 2022 – at 1,137,621 year-to-date, according to data released today – and last month is the second-best November on record, with 101,707 sales, topped by the Toyota RAV4 and Ford Ranger.

With one month to go, deliveries are still up 1.7 per cent on the same period last year, when a record 1.22 million sales were reported by year's end.

It is despite November 2024 being the fourth consecutive month of sales decline – and fifth in six months – compared to the same month last year, amid a long-forecast slowdown in demand in a worsening economy.

Record demand in the wake of the pandemic – combined with the easing of stock shortages on in-demand models – sent new-car deliveries on a 14-month streak of year-on-year growth, the longest in two decades, through 2023 and early 2024.

However, this margin slumped to 4.1 per cent by the end of September, 3.0 per cent at the end of October, and now sits at just 1.7 per cent, with the release of November data.

More than 1.2 million new vehicle deliveries are still expected to be reported for 2024 come December 31, but the chances the market will beat last year's annual record are slimmer – but still possible.

The sales data reported by the FCAI is based on vehicle deliveries – while the EVC uses registrations – rather than how many orders were taken for new cars in a given month.

Demand for new cars is currently at pre-COVID levels, Toyota Australia sales and marketing boss Sean Hanley recently told Drive.

"The natural demand at the moment is probably mirroring 2019. ... Having said that, I think the market is certainly strong this year, it'll go over 1.2 million no doubt. To what degree we'll have to see.

"But you've got to be careful with that, because is that the natural demand, or is that car companies – Toyota's one of them – that's actually delivering cars that might have been ordered a year ago."

If 1.2 million new vehicles are reported as delivered in 2024, it would beat forecasts of 1.1 to 1.15 million from others in the car industry – and expectations of 1.05 to 1.1 million set by Toyota at the start of the year.

Toyota is well on its way to becoming Australia's top-selling new vehicle manufacturer for the 22nd year in a row, reporting 20,562 sales in November 2024 – up 13.6 per cent – and 222,639 year-to-date.

It has now pulled ahead of the 215,240 sales it reported in calendar year 2023, and given its typical sales rate of 20,000 deliveries per month, it is on track to surpass its 2008 record of 238,983 vehicles will prove difficult.

In second place was Ford (8720 sales), led by the Ranger ute and Everest 4WD, ahead of Mazda (7588 sales) for the eighth time this year.

GWM finished in the Top 10 – just behind rival MG – while Nissan ended the month in 10th, amid reports overseas of the company's worsening financial situation.

Sales of electric cars were down 24 per cent last month – led by a 36 per cent slump in Tesla deliveries, its ninth decline this year – while hybrids were up 47 per cent amid increased demand, choice and supply.

The Toyota RAV4 was the top-selling new vehicle in November – for the fifth month in a row – reporting 5526 deliveries, up 126 per cent year-on-year but behind its record of 6712 sales posted in August.

It was followed by the Ford Ranger, which was down 21 per cent compared to November 2023, reporting 4981 sales.

The Ford Ranger continues to lead the year-to-date sales race – with 58,100 deliveries ahead of 53,599 RAV4s – and while the Toyota is closing the gap, the current margin of 4501 vehicles will prove difficult to close in one month.

Making a surprise return to the Top Five is the new Toyota Prado, which ended the month third on 3590 sales – ahead of the Toyota HiLux ute (3572), which led the sales charts from 2016 to 2022.

As with many months in recent years, there were no traditional 'passenger cars' – hatchbacks, sedans, coupes or people movers – in the Top 10 sellers, and rather a mix of utes and SUVs.

Data below supplied by the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) and the Electric Vehicle Council (EVC), and compiled by Alex Misoyannis.

Alex Misoyannis has been writing about cars since 2017, when he started his own website, Redline. He contributed for Drive in 2018, before joining CarAdvice in 2019, becoming a regular contributing journalist within the news team in 2020. Cars have played a central role throughout Alex’s life, from flicking through car magazines at a young age, to growing up around performance vehicles in a car-loving family.

Read more about Alex Misoyannis