Why this luxury SUV is worth more used than new

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Australia’s used car market is slowly returning to its pre-COVID-19 state, meaning that used cars are becoming cheaper. But there’s one model that is seemingly defying this decline: the Land Rover Defender.

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According to the Australian Automotive Dealer Association’s (AADA) latest used-car sales report, used Defendersare selling for more than they did when new.

According to dealer and private sales data acquired by AutoGrab and the AADA in October 2024, Land Rover Defender models between two and four years old retain 102 per cent of their value when sold on the used market.

Comparatively speaking, the average retained value for two-to-four-year-old SUVs is 81 per cent, which is down 1.4 per cent from September’s numbers.

The Land Rover Defender is not the only model that is seemingly defying the odds when it comes to depreciation, with the Suzuki Jimny still topping the list of value retention for vehicles two to four years old at 113.4 per cent, while the Toyota Corolla Cross retains 103.8 per cent of its value and the Toyota Yaris Cross retains 102.4 per cent on the used market.

Retained value reflects how much of a car’s price when purchased new it would make back if sold today. For example, if a 2018 Toyota RAV4 purchased new for $60,000 has a retained value of 85 per cent after two years, that means it would be worth roughly $51,000 if sold on the used-car market in 2020.

“The declining trend in retained values continues with every vehicle segment across every age category experiencing a reduction in value for the month,” said AADA CEO James Voortman in a Drive article from July.  

This reduction in value can be primarily attributed to rising used-car stock levels, although light commercial vehicles such as utes and vans are more affected as they have “greater levels of oversupply” than passenger cars and SUVs, Mr Voortman said.

As was the case with many models released during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Defender’s new generation hit the market in mid-2020 when production of new vehicles was still slow.

It took until 2022 for the production of new vehicles to return to the same capacity it was pre-COVID pandemic, and even longer for manufacturers to work through their order backlog.

The Land Rover Defender is a niche product that sells at low volumes even when production capacity is at its peak, given its high price point and off-road capabilities.

As per the VFACTS sales data for October 2024, Land Rover has sold 2755 Defenders so far this year, which is less than half the sales of the Suzuki Jimny (7985) and Yaris Cross (6829) over the same period.

Meanwhile, these sales are eclipsed by Australia’s two best-selling new cars – the Ford Ranger (53,119 sales), and the Toyota HiLux (46,594 sales) – both of which show instant and dramatic depreciation due to the high volume of stock available on both the new and used market.

Additionally, the Defender takes longer to sell on the used market than some of its peers, averaging 67.6 days on the market – while other SUVs take roughly 50 days to sell.

Original wait times of over 12 months for a new Defender also played a big role in raising the value of used models.

However, a Land Rover Australia spokesperson told Drive in February 2024 that wait times would come down to less than six months – with the trickle-down effects of this yet to materialise on the used market.

“Both Range Rover Sport and [Land Rover] Defender have been extremely popular vehicles in the Australian market. We are delighted that more supply is now being allocated to Australia, reducing the overall wait time for these vehicles to often less than six months,” the spokesperson told Drive in a story from February 2024.

So, would you be able to make money on a Land Rover Defender by buying one now and then selling it? It’s unlikely. A decline in delivery wait times will likely see customers increasingly opt for new models.

A reduction in new-car delivery times combined with the fact the Defender has nearly doubled its year-to-date sales numbers since 2021 and 2022, will mean more options for buyers on the used market, in turn creating more competition for sellers and lowering pricing.

Comparatively speaking, vehicles with consistently long wait times when new – like the Jimny – will likely outperform the Defender on the used car market as new Defender stock frees up.

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