Toyota Australia set to smash all-time sales record
12/05/2024 06:00 PM
As the final sales days of 2024 approach, Toyota is poised to beat its sixteen-year-old record for the number of vehicles sold in a calendar year with an all-time record for any manufacturer.
Toyota is poised to sell more cars in Australia than it – or any manufacturer – ever has, breaking its own record set back in 2008 in the process.
The car maker sold 222,639 vehicles in the first 11 months of the year, meaning if it achieves its monthly average (20,240) in December 2024 it will break its 2008 record of 238,938 sales by more than 4000 cars.
Toyota sales in the final month of 2024 will be buoyed by the new-generation 2025 LandCruiser Prado, which first arrived in November with 17,000 customers placing a deposit on one after order books opened in August.
The Prado notched up 3590 deliveries in November, making it the third-best selling car on the Australian market, and given the scale of its order bank, a similar number is expected for December.
The potential sales record is made more impressive as Toyota has sold more than 200,000 cars each year since 2004 – apart from 2012 – something no other car maker has achieved at all.
Holden came closest to selling 200,000 when it last held the top spot in 2002 with 178,392 sales, while Ford's best remains 170,811 vehicles set back in 1985.
Mazda is the only other brand to have ever sold more than 100,000 cars in a year in Australia having first done so in 2012 when the Mazda 3 became the first imported car since 1948 to top the sales charts.
Even before 2024's full numbers come in, Mazda is in no danger of beating its highest sales of 118,217 in 2016, sitting at 88,731 at the start of December.
Toyota first took the top spot in 1991 when it knocked off Ford, and while it shared top honours with both Ford and Holden during the 90s, it has been the best-selling brand in Australia every year since 2003.
In the more-than two decades the brand has been at the top, the industry has seen import tariffs wound down – including free-trade agreements with Thailand and China – and the end of local manufacturing.
While former rival Holden was closed in 2020, outsiders Hyundai and Kia have become consistent top-five best-selling brands, while 2024 saw an influx of car makers from China into Australian showrooms.
BYD – based in Guangdong, China – arrived in Australia in 2022 with local distributor EVDirect making bold public aims to become the best-selling car brand in Australia by 2030, which would mean knocking off Toyota in the process.
Yet Toyota Australia vice president Hanley told Drive the increased competition is typical of the local market and something the brand is used to dealing with.
"In a market of what, 1.2 [million vehicles sold annually] … I mean, in all of my life in Toyota Australia, it’s never been really any different. There’s always been a massive blanket of brands … Australia is the most competitive market," Hanley told Drive.
"I guess when you’ve been in that market for as long as Toyota has, you become a bit seasoned to it, start to understand it – [but] complacency is your worst enemy. Never get complacent in this market; the moment you do that you die.
"So the reality is, you have to work hard to get to leadership in this market, you have to work incredibly harder to stay in leadership."
The post Toyota Australia set to smash all-time sales record appeared first on Drive.
