Ford Ranger the most popular new and used car in March

Many Australians are still turning to the used car market even though car supply chain issues have eased.

According to the Australian Automotive Dealer Association (AADA) there were 184,054 used cars that changed owners in March this year, a big difference compared to the record-breaking 109,647 new car sales in the same month.

The most popular used car in March was the Ford Ranger (up to 10 years old) with 5,175 cars sold and taking an average of 45.9 days to sell.

There were 5,661 new Ford Rangers sold in Australia in March, which also means it was the most popular new car in Australia, taking top place from its rival the Toyota HiLux which came in fourth place.

The second most popular used car was the Toyota Hilux with 4,265 sales. There were more used HiLux models sold compared to the 3,995 new HiLux models sold in March.

The January to March new car sales result of 304,452 marks the best quarter for new car sales which was an increase of 13.2 per cent compared to the same period in 2023.

SUVs continue to dominate the most popular new car sales with seven of the top 10 cars having this body type. The rest of the top 10 were comprised of utes.

While the Ford Ranger beat out the Toyota HiLux in the new and used car segment, Toyota overall proved to be the market leader with 18,961 new cars sold. The Japanese carmaker had four cars in the top 10 used cars including the Corolla (3712), Camry (2621), RAV4 (2121), and LandCruiser (1994) in third, fourth, eighth, and 10th positions respectively.

The AADA data reveals that the average days to sell a used car is the shortest its been for 12 months at 44.2 days while retained values for used models under four years old are holding steady. There have been several recent models on the market selling for higher than their recommended retail price.

AADA CEO James Voortman said the pricing for used cars is decreasing after a spike brought about by market factors and the pandemic.

“Ongoing strength in new car sales has improved the supply situation on the used car market leading to more choice and improved affordability,” he said.

“Consumers are in a good position to shop around and negotiate a good price for a used car.

“The average time to sell a used car is now the lowest it has been for 12 months which tells us that sellers are becoming more pragmatic and buyers are taking advantage of lower prices of used cars.”