A Toyota takedown! RAV4, HiLux, Corolla and LandCruiser shine as Toyota outsells Kia, Hyundai and Mazda combined in supply-crunched Australian new-car market

The Australian new-car market is still feeling the impacts of the coronavirus and supply chain chaos, with vehicle sales falling 6.4 per cent compared to the same month last year.

Toyota (with the HiLux and RAV4) continue to dominate a falling market, with a total 94,383 vehicles finding homes across Australia in May - an increase on the 81,065 sales in April, but still down on this time last year.

The result brings the 2022 tally to 437,884 – down 4.1 per cent on the 100,809 vehicles sold over the same period last year.

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The culprit, says the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (or FCAI), is the Covid hangover of closures, supply constraints and the ongoing chip shortage.

“The global automotive industry continues to be plagued by a shortage of microprocessor units and shipping delays. This issue is not unique to Australia," says FCAI Chief Executive Tony Weber.

“Car makers continue to report high demand across dealer showrooms and online marketplaces. Pandemic interruptions continue to impact manufacturing and conflict in Ukraine has disrupted vehicle component supply.

"Monthly sales figures are also dependent on shipping arrivals which continue to be uncertain."

Worryingly, both for automotive companies and for those waiting on a new car, the FCAI says there is no immediate hope that supply chains will quickly stabilise.

"We do not expect supply chains to stabilise until these issues are resolved,” Mr Weber says.

But bad news for the broader industry is somehow good news for a handful of brands, with Toyota chief among them, finishing the month as the best-selling marque, and the maker of the two best-selling models.

Toyota finished the month with 22,813 vehicles sold, almost three times the number of its closest competitor, Kia, which finished with 7307. In fact, if you take Kia's total, and add Hyundai (third place with 7063) and Mazda (fourth place with 6474), it still wouldn't be enough to topple Toyota.

Helping Toyota's totals is the fact that four of the top-five models last months wore its badge, with the HiLux finishing first (5178), the RAV4 finishing second (3925), the Corolla finishing fourth (3310) and the LandCruiser finishing fifth (2667).

Only the Ford Ranger prevented a total Toyota lockout, finishing third with 3751 sales. That's despite ballooning wait times for Toyota vehicles – including the RAV4 Hybrid – as well as the brand essentiality pausing orders on certain HiLux variants earlier in May.