Toyota celebrates 25 years as Australia’s bestselling car brand – only one above 200k sales, Hilux top seller

Toyota has a lot of reasons to celebrate. Not only did it overtake General Motors as the bestselling automotive brand in the US for 2021, it is also cementing its dominance in Australia after being the top-selling brand for the 25th year.

All through 2021, the automaker delivered 223,642 vehicles in the country, representing a market share of 21.3%. That is its third-highest volume on record, and substantially higher than the total it sold in 2020 (204,801 units) and 2019 (205,766 units). Toyota is the only brand to break past the 200,000-unit mark (which it has done for 17 years) – second-place Mazda sold 101,119 vehicles.

The automaker has been the market leader in 1991 to 1994, 1998, 2000, and every single year since 2003. It is also the commercial vehicles leader with an unbroken run of 43 years (since 1979!). Its most popular vehicle is the Hilux, with 52,801 units delivered. The pick-up is also the bestselling vehicle in the country for the sixth consecutive year, though it had been dominating sales in the Northern Territory for 21 straight years.

Approximately 35,751 units of the RAV4 were sold, 72.3% (25,850) of which were the hybrid variant. That makes it both the bestselling SUV and hybrid vehicle in the country. Speaking of which, hybrid-electric vehicle sales stood at a record 65,491 units, or about 29.3% of Toyota’s total.

The Corolla continues to be the top passenger car for the ninth year in a row (28,768 units sold), while the Camry goes unbeaten for 28 years with 13,801 deliveries.

The Land Cruiser series amassed 47,932 sales collectively, spread between the Land Cruiser Prado (21,299 units), Land Cruiser 70 Series (13,981 units), Land Cruiser Wagon (12,652) and the new 300 Series.

For 2022, company vice president for sales, marketing and franchise operations, Sean Hanley said the goal is to increase sales beyond last year’s total and maintain a market share above 20%. “While these results are remarkable in an Australian market that is one of the most competitive in the world, Toyota continues to respect the competition and never takes its position for granted.”

Hanley added: “We will freshen our existing line-up with the upgraded RAV4 range early this year, the Corolla Cross SUV and second-generation GR86 sports car in the second half, an update to the 70 Series workhorse, and we will also announce launch timing for our first BEV, the bZ4X SUV.”

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