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VFACTS May 2021: Toyota HiLux, Ford Ranger and Isuzu D-Max take out the Top Four, drive record ute sales 

Utes filled three of the Top Four sales spots in May 2021, as Australians get ready to holiday at home amid international travel restrictions, and tradies tool up for the construction boom.


Australia’s love affair with utes has hit a new milestone, accounting for approximately one in four of every new vehicle sold last month.

Three utes – the Toyota HiLux, Ford Ranger and Isuzu D-Max – filled the Top Four sales positions in May 2021 as buyers prepare to holiday at home amid international travel restrictions, and tradies tool up for the constriction boom.

The Toyota HiLux topped the monthly sales charts in May 2021 and is on track to become Australia’s best-selling vehicle for the sixth year in a row.

However there was some consolation for the second-placed Ford Ranger after taking out 4x4 ute honours for the second month in a row.

Indeed, there is now a neck-and-neck battle between the Toyota HiLux and Ford Ranger in the 4x4-only category.

The Ford Ranger leads the Toyota HiLux 4x4 tally by a gap of just 15 vehicles in the first five months of this year (Ford Ranger 17,697 versus Toyota HiLux 17,682).

While it’s too close to call the 2021 outcome at the half way mark of the year, the Ford Ranger has outsold the Toyota HiLux in the 4x4-only category in three of the past five years (2020, 2019 and 2017).

Meanwhile, the Isuzu D-Max has caused a major upset, reporting 3058 examples as sold, an all-time record for the nameplate which helped drive Isuzu Ute Australia to a new monthly record for the brand, with 3946 deliveries reported when the Isuzu MU-X is included in the tally.

The previous best monthly sales result for the Isuzu D-Max was in December 2020, when 2422 examples were reported as sold.

The result help push Isuzu Ute Australia into the Top 10 for the third time in its history, and ranking in ninth place for the first time ever .

Isuzu Ute Australia director of sales and marketing, Koichiro Yoshida, said the company was “humbled” by the response to the new Isuzu D-Max and was working overtime to “deliver vehicle orders as quickly as possible”.

Meanwhile, the Mitsubishi Triton finished in seventh place in May 2021 as production ramped up and after stock levels began to return to normal.

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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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