VFACTS: April sales slow

A TOTAL of 90,614 new cars were sold in Australia across the month of April, the month’s 23 selling days yielding 6.8 per cent fewer registrations than the same time last year – or a reduction of 6588 vehicles.

Only the SUV sector managed to buck the month’s downward trend with a YOY increase of just 0.1 per cent. Passenger vehicle sales continued to retract – down 27.4 per cent YOY – while light and heavy commercial vehicles sales slowed 4.6 and 20.8 per cent respectively.

Toyota continued its leadership of the Australian new car market in April with 19,380 unit sales (and 20.3 market share points), ahead of Ford’s 7334 unit sales (7.5 per cent), and Mazda’s 6573 unit sales (8.3 per cent).

The Toyota HiLux topped the sales charts in April selling 4121 units and beating class-competitor Ford Ranger (4031 units) by just 90 units. Toyota also placed third and fifth for the month of April with the RAV4 (3808 units) and LandCruiser Prado (2233 units), with Ford taking fourth position with it popular Everest SUV (2234 units).

As expected, the cessation of the Fringe Benefits Tax (FBT) exemption for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles saw a sharp decline in sales of PHEV models. During April, some 2601 PHEVs were purchased, representing 2.9 per cent of all motive types – and down from 4.7 per cent the month prior (March 2025).

According to FCAI chief executive Tony Weber the figures highlight the impact of government policy decisions on consumer behaviour in the automotive market.

“The earlier inclusion of PHEVs in the FBT exemption played a critical role in making these vehicles accessible to more Australians,” he said.

“Removing that support has led to an immediate and disappointing drop in demand in a price-sensitive vehicle market.”

By contrast, battery electric vehicles (BEVs) made up 5.9 per cent of the new car market in April, with 5308 unit sales for the month (down 14.3 per cent on April 2024 figures). FCAI outliers Polestar and Tesla contributed sales of 202 units^ (up 102.0 per cent YOY) and 500 units^ (down 75.9 per cent YOY) to the month’s tally.

Mr Weber says the modest contribution made by BEVs reinforces the scale of the challenge ahead as Australia seeks to meet its emissions reduction goals under the New Vehicle Efficiency Standard (NVES).

“For NVES to succeed, it must be supported by holistic policy settings that assist consumers to move to zero and low-emission technologies, including continued investment in recharging infrastructure,” he added.

For the month of April, sales across all Australian jurisdictions fell.

Tasmania had a decrease of 18.5 per cent to 1366 units, the Australian Capital Territory 17.0 per cent to 1198 units, Victoria 7.9 per cent to 24,410 units, South Australia 13.6 per cent to 5864 units, New South Wales 7.5 per cent to 27,071 units, Queensland 3.2 per cent to 20,203 units, the Northern Territory 2.4 per cent to 838 units, and Western Australia 1.4 per cent to 9664 units.

Top 10 vehicle sales by make (April 2025)*:

Top 10 vehicle sales by model (April 2025)*:

State by state (April 2025)*:

*Sales data supplied courtesy of the FCAI.

^Sales data supplied courtesy of the Electric Vehicle Council.