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The Ranger has claimed a title only ever achieved once in the Falcon's 56-year history, with its third year ahead of the Toyota HiLux and RAV4 on the Aussie sales charts.
The Ford Ranger ute has become the first Blue Oval vehicle in 37 years to lead the Australian annual sales charts three times in a row.
And its 21st-century sales have now overtaken those of the Falcon, the last Ford to record at least three consecutive annual sales victories with a seven-year streak from 1982 to 1988, across XD, XE, XF and EA iterations.
No other Ford model line – or string of model generations – is believed to have topped the Australian sales charts for at least three years before the 1980s, placing the Ranger and Falcon in an exclusive club.
The Ranger ended another seven-year winning streak – that of the Toyota HiLux ute – in 2023, when the new-generation ute took the top spot, becoming the first Ford to lead the sales race since the 1995 EF Falcon.
Data published by the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) today reveals 56,555 Ford Ranger utes were reported as sold in Australia last year, down 9.6 per cent on the year prior.
Both figures are short of the Ranger's annual record of 63,356 sales in 2023, but the ute's 2025 performance was enough to maintain an edge over the Toyota HiLux (51,297) and RAV4 (51,947).
It faces a much tougher threat in 2026, however, as the HiLux has just been treated to a major overhaul – and a new-generation RAV4 is due in showrooms in March or April.
It sets Toyota up for a run at the crown this year, something the brand believes it would achieve with the RAV4, thanks to the continued rise in SUV sales, and the flattening of the ute market.
In contrast, Ford is preparing to axe the Ranger's most popular engine – the 2.0-litre bi-turbo – in favour of a line-up focused on the more expensive 3.0-litre V6, and a single-turbo 2.0-litre that trails its key rivals on power and torque.
It is also under threat from new entrants to the ute market hoping to steal a portion of the top sellers' territory.
The BYD Shark 6 ute, in particular, attracted more than 18,000 sales in 2025, yet sales of all makes and models of regular-sized 4x4 utes only grew by 4.7 per cent.
Ford brand sales declined by 5.8 per cent in 2025, to 94,399 vehicles, but it remained ahead of Mazda (91,923, down 4.2 per cent) as the country's second-best-selling car brand, albeit well behind leader Toyota (239,863).
As with prior years, however, nearly 88 per cent of Fords sold were a Ranger ute or Everest 4WD, with a further 8 per cent accounted for by the Mustang sports car and Transit Custom mid-size van.
The remaining 4184 Fords sold were split between the F-150 pick-up, Mustang Mach-E electric SUV, Tourneo people mover, full-size Transit van and bus, and now-defunct Puma city SUV.
The Ranger's cumulative sales over the past three years – 182,504 – are the highest achieved by a number-one finisher since 202,495 Holden Commodores were sold between 2004 and 2006 inclusive.
The Commodore would go on to lead the Australian new-car sales charts until 2010, before being overtaken by the Mazda 3 small car, and never returning to the top spot again.
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. Highly Commended - Young Writer of the Year 2024 (Under 30) Rising Star Journalist, 2024 Winner Scoop of The Year - 2024 Winner
