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Australians continue to gorge themselves on four-wheel-drive SUVs to holiday at home

Australians are preparing to holiday at home next year, with the latest sales figures showing a continued surge in sales of four-wheel-drive wagons.


Demand for iconic four-wheel-drives such as the Toyota LandCruiser and Nissan Patrol remained strong in September, bucking the market trend of a 20.5 per cent decline year-to-date.

Sales of the new Nissan Patrol have never been stronger, with sales up 14.6 per cent year-to-date and up by 86 per cent in September 2020 compared to the same month last year.

The Toyota LandCruiser wagon posted a 3.1 per cent sales increase last month, while the year-to-date tally is down by 12.8 per cent, which is less than the 20.5 per cent market decline.

 

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Toyota dealers say they could sell more LandCruisers if only they could get supply. A pause in production due to the coronavirus earlier this year interrupted shipments and Toyota is now playing catch up, with increased production planned for the remainder of the year.

The Mitsubishi Pajero is also soldiering on, with demand up by 34.8 per cent in September, just months after the car maker confirmed the long-standing model will go out of production next year.

The Toyota Prado remains the most popular four-wheel-drive wagon, with sales dipping by just 1.2 per cent due to supply restrictions.

The Isuzu MU-X remains the top-selling ute-derived seven-seat off-road wagons, though sales are down by 7.4 per cent.

Demand for most other ute-derived heavy duty four-wheel-drive wagons remains stronger than the overall market trend, with deliveries of the Mitsubishi Pajero Sport only down by 1.4 per cent year-to-date, while the Ford Everest is down by just 2.7 per cent year-to-date.

 

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The Toyota Fortuner continues to struggle, however, with sales down by 15.6 per cent, but part of this can be attributed to the changeover to an updated model.

Most heavy duty four-wheel-drive wagons can tow between 3000kg and 3500kg and the increase in demand is matched by strong sales of caravans in the past few months as most international borders remain closed for the foreseeable future.

Meantime, the top end of town also appears to be tracking well. Sales of large SUVs priced in excess of $70,000 are down by only 5.4 per cent year-to-date in a market that has slowed by 20.5 per cent over the same period.

Ute sales also remain relatively strong, with double cab four-wheel-drive utes down by 15 per cent. However, the decline is in part due to restricted supply caused by production interruptions earlier this year.

Dealers say they are selling more utes than are being reported as sold, because are waiting to deliver the vehicles.

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Joshua Dowling

Joshua Dowling has been a motoring journalist for more than 20 years, spending most of that time working for The Sydney Morning Herald (as motoring editor and one of the early members of the Drive team) and News Corp Australia. He joined CarAdvice / Drive in 2018, and has been a World Car of the Year judge for more than 10 years.

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