Market Insight: Two-wheel drive fails to thrive
BY MATT BROGAN | 19th Aug 2024
DUAL-CAB utes have taken a huge share of Australia’s new-vehicle market in recent times, but what may come as a surprise is just how far the interest in two-wheel drive utility models has slipped since our sedan-based locals bit the dust.
Without the Ford Falcon and Holden (Commodore) Ute, Australian buyers moved up to larger, four-wheel drive models in droves, the two-wheel drive segment becoming one of necessity rather than preference.
Studying the numbers reveals a steady decrease in two-wheel drive utility sales over the past eight years – a decline of 37.7 per cent.
Conversely, sales of four-wheel drive models have flourished (up 30.7 per cent over the same timeframe), with the likes of the Ford Ranger and Toyota HiLux topping the charts on a regular basis.
Looking back to the end of local vehicle manufacturing, annual sales of two-wheel drive utes reached 43,947 units – including 6972 Ford Falcon and Holden Ute variants. Projected sales at the end of the 2024 calendar year show just 27,384 two-wheel drive utes will be sold.
Appropriately, the market appears to have adjusted to the trend with some importers reducing the number of two-wheel drive variants offered, and others removing their 4x2 option entirely.
It is even more pertinent that newcomers to the market – most of which are of Chinese origin – offer four-wheel drive models exclusively.
Analysis of remaining key players shows that two-wheel drive Ford Ranger sales are down 8.9 per cent, Mitsubishi Triton 4x2 is down 13.8 per cent, the Mazda BT-50 4x2 down 34.1 per cent, the rear-drive Toyota HiLux is down 35.4 per cent, and Nissan Navara 4x2 sales are down 60.5 per cent.
The only big-name importer to buck the trend is Isuzu, with two-wheel drive D-Max sales projected to be up 24.4 per cent at the end of the 2024 calendar year.
Comparative optics on four-wheel drive variants show gains for most entrants. Sales of four-wheel drive Isuzu D-Max variants rose 55.5 per cent across the same period, ahead of Ford Ranger (up 46.9 per cent), Toyota HiLux (up 36.6 per cent), and Mazda BT-50 (up 32.4 per cent).
Other stalwart favourites were down, Nissan Navara by the largest percentage (-45.8 per cent) alongside Mitsubishi Triton (down 23.6 per cent) and Volkswagen Amarok (down 11.6 per cent).
