Another solid sales month was recorded in April, with the Ford Ranger, Toyota HiLux and Toyota LandCruiser wagon leading the charge.
The Winner
The Ford Ranger was the big mover, more than doubling it’s April 2015 sales with 3,534 units sold in April 2016. More than enough to ensure first place on the podium with a whopping 992 sales whalloping of the second placed Toyota HiLux.
It’s not often that you get to see that.
The Loser
The big question is, what is happening to sales of the Jeep range?
Sales of the entire range have dropped dramatically in recent months, which again begs the question, why?
Is the plunge in sales a result of an unfavourable exchange rate, product supply issues or is it something else entirely?
Is this a reaction to ongoing quality issues, recalls and bad press from dissatisfied owners?
We put the question to Jeep’s PR department last month and the silence has been deafening.
To put the issue that Jeep has into perspective consider the following comparisons to the same month (April) in 2015;
- Grand Cherokee sales are down 38 per-cent
- Wrangler sales are down 34 per-cent
- Cherokee sales are down 79 per-cent
- Compass sales are down 62 per-cent
- Patriot sales are down 62 per-cent
That’s a monumental, across the board routing and it isn’t limited just to the April 2016 results, March was no better.
Now let’s be clear here, we love a good Jeep, the damn things are living legends in off-road circles, but we have to ask again, what’s the story Jeep Australia?
The final tally
Overall, there were 18,345 new 4X4s sold in Australia in April this year. That’s a noticeable improvement on the 16,018 4X4 sales achieved in April 2015 and a significant chunk of the 87,571 total new vehicle sales in April.
More than one in five new vehicles sold in Australia is a 4X4.
| MAKE/MODEL | APRIL 2016 | APRIL 2015 | 2016 YTD |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ford Ranger 4X4 | 3534 | 1710 | 9172 |
| Toyota HiLux | 2542 | 1938 | 9363 |
| Toyota LandCruiser Wagon | 1349 | 806 | 3504 |
| Toyota Prado | 1329 | 1389 | 5049 |
| Mitsubishi Triton 4X4 | 1121 | 1279 | 6312 |
| Holden Colorado 4X4 | 1070 | 1133 | 4816 |
| Nissan Navara 4X4 | 796 | 830 | 4403 |
| Isuzu UTE D-MAX 4X4 | 701 | 831 | 3438 |
| Mazda BT-50 4X4 | 690 | 564 | 3059 |
| Toyota LandCruiser 70 Series | 633 | 511 | 2767 |
| Jeep Grand Cherokee | 614 | 989 | 2700 |
| Volkswagen Amarok | 588 | 538 | 2767 |
| Isuzu UTE MU-X | 531 | 504 | 2251 |
| Toyota Fortuner | 381 | 0 | 1394 |
| Mitsubishi Pajero Sport | 288 | 0 | 1445 |
| Land Rover Discovery Sport | 281 | 0 | 1539 |
| Mitsubishi Pajero | 279 | 382 | 1504 |
| Land Rover Range Rover Sport | 260 | 304 | 1040 |
| Holden Colorado 7 | 168 | 162 | 968 |
| Land Rover Discovery | 161 | 164 | 993 |
| Toyota FJ Cruiser | 125 | 117 | 410 |
| Jeep Wrangler | 118 | 180 | 449 |
| Nissan Patrol Wagon | 117 | 138 | 530 |
| Suzuki Grand Vitara | 113 | 173 | 595 |
| Jeep Cherokee | 109 | 518 | 652 |
| Jeep Compass | 91 | 241 | 429 |
| Jeep Renegade | 77 | 0 | 353 |
| Suzuki Jimny | 62 | 102 | 366 |
| Jeep Patriot | 61 | 160 | 274 |
| Foton Tunland 4X4 | 52 | 71 | 234 |
| Land Rover Range Rover | 41 | 49 | 167 |
| RAM Laramie 4X4 | 29 | 0 | 83 |
| Land Rover Defender | 21 | 62 | 365 |
| Nissan Patrol Ute | 13 | 27 | 78 |
| Ssangyong Actyon Sports | 0 | 7 | 21 |
| Mitsubishi Challenger | 0 | 139 | 160 |
| 18345 | 16018 |