Battle of the utes! How Toyota plans to better the sales of the Ford Ranger in 2023 with its HiLux ute

Ford might have won the January battle when it comes to the title of Australia's best-selling ute, but Toyota still plans on winning the sales war, saying the arrival of the GR Sport, along with its homegrown Rogue, will ensure 2023 is another strong year for the brand's best-selling vehicle.

Last month, Ford's new Ranger found 4749 homes in January, up a massive 46.3 per cent on the 3245 sales the now-extinct version managed in the same month of 2022. That was enough to push the HiLux into fairly unfamiliar second position, with Toyota's top-seller managing 4131 sales (up 15 per cent on January 2022).

There have been questions raised over whether the HiLux, which is much deeper into its product cycle than the all-new Ranger, would be able to keep pace with Ford's ute this year. And while production issues are definitely impacting results (there's a wait time on the HiLux, with the brand delivering fewer vehicles than it holds orders for), January's results wouldn't have been celebrated at Toyota HQ.

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But a month isn't a year, of course, and Toyota says it's confident it will finish 2023 "very strong", disputing the idea that a lack of brand-new metal will impact the HiLux's sales results.

"Well we wouldn't say there's no brand-new metal – we've got the GR Sport coming," says Toyota Australia's vice president of sales and marketing, Sean Hanley.

"So we've got a GR Sport coming, we've got the Rogue ongoing, we've got incredibly exciting things happening around that car for the coming year.

"In the end, the market will determine, but I expect that HiLux (sales) will be very strong."

The HiLux story this year will begin with Toyota's long-awaited Ranger Raptor rival.

Last month, Ford's new Ranger found 4749 homes in January, up a massive 46.3 per cent on the 3245 sales the now-extinct version managed in the same month of 2022.

Set to launch in the second half of this year, the HiLux GR Sport features the ute's regular 2.8-litre turbo-diesel, but with the power upped to 165kW and 550Nm. For reference, the new Ranger Raptor has swapped to petrol power, and features a twin-turbo V6 good for 292kW and 583Nm.

It's not just the engine that's changed, though. Toyota will assemble our vehicles in Melbourne – alongside the HiLux Rogue – and almost all the important bits have been upgraded, including the power pump, a wider track, tuned suspensions and better brakes.

The brand has also tweaked the automatic transmission to deliver better acceleration (though it's yet to go into 0-100km/h specifics), while Toyota says the 140mm (front) and 155mm (rear) track "cater for the most demanding driving conditions".

Will that be enough to keep the HiLux fresh, and ahead of the Ford Ranger, in 2023? Only time will tell.