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News - Market Insight - Market Insight 2025Market Insight: Four-wheel drives in favourAustralian buyers continue to shop 4x4 utes and SUVs, with YTD market share at 27pc 24 Mar 2025 By MATT BROGAN NEW four-wheel drive vehicle sales show no signs of abating, with Australian buyers taking home some 49,085 units in the first two months of 2025.
That figure – which represents some 27 per cent of all new cars sold – reflects not only the outdoorsy pastimes of asphalt-centric city dwellers, but the staple choice of rural and regional, trade, and agricultural sector buyers for whom a four-wheel drive is a necessity.
For this report, we focused on rugged, off-road-capable four-wheel drive vehicles with dual-range gearing and high ground clearance. All-wheel-drive SUVs and wagons are not included in the data set.
Availability of four-wheel drive models in the smaller segments might limit choice for those with neither the need nor the budget for a larger alternative, but it is clear the Suzuki Jimny has this corner of the Australian car market well in hand.
The pocket-sized Japanese favourite recorded 1422 sales to date in 2025, giving it a 15.3 per cent share of the light SUV segment and 0.8 market share points overall.
Most popular across the sub-$80K large SUV under segment are ute-based wagons, with the Ford Everest (2886 deliveries YTD) and Isuzu MU-X (1499 sold) performing well.
However, Toyota’s new LandCruiser Prado has reclaimed segment top spot from the Ford Everest with YTD sales of 5570 units – or 26.9 per cent of all sub-$80K large SUVs sold in the first two months of 2025.
Overall, four-wheel drive sales make up more than 60 per cent of Australia’s sub-$80K large SUV volume. Against the broader market, four-wheel drives from within the segment comprise 6.9 per cent of overall sales, or 12,608 units (YTD).
The higher-priced portion of this category– large SUVs above $80K – is home to just two genuine four-wheel drives, of which one, the Jeep Grand Cherokee, is about to exit the market.
Grand Cherokee sales, combined with those of the Land Rover Defender, total 620 units to the end of February, meaning four-wheel drive models hold 18.2 per cent of the overall large SUVs above $80K segment.
Against the broader market, however, four-wheel drive sales from the premium large SUV category account for just 0.4 per cent of all year-to-date new vehicle sales – or less than half those of the Suzuki Jimny alone.
Just one per cent of all new four-wheel drive sales originate from our next category, the sub- $120K upper large SUV segment.
Home to longstanding rivals like the Land Rover Discovery, Nissan Patrol and Toyota LandCruiser, year-to-date sales from the segment tally just 1902 units, perhaps an indication that such models are now beyond the reach of the average buyer.
Equally out of reach are vehicles from the ‘over $120K’ portion of the segment. With just three four-wheel drive entrants – the GX and LX from Lexus along with the Mercedes-Benz G-Class – overall segment sales tally just 323 units, or 0.1 market share points.
Interestingly, some 48.6 per cent of all vehicles sold in this segment offer genuine four-wheel drive running gear, though just how many are seen beyond the black stump is another matter entirely.
The four-wheel drive light commercial utility segment – in part the subject of last week’s Market Insight – continues as the most popular choice for off-road adventurers.
With the largest number of four-wheel drive entrants (16), the category accounts for 16.9 per cent of all new vehicles sold in Australia to the end of February 2025. Competitors including the Ford Ranger (7775 units) and Toyota HiLux (5863) hold a commanding 44.9 per cent chunk between them.
The remaining 55.1 per cent of segment sales are split across stalwart players including the Isuzu D-Max, Mazda BT-50, Mitsubishi Triton and Nissan Navara, with newcomer BYD Shark 6 also making waves, already taking a 6.6 per cent slice of the action YTD.
Finally, at the largest end of the four-wheel drive segment, are the American pick-up trucks.
With pricing well over $100,000 in most instances, the seven competitors from within the utes costing more than $100K category have amassed YTD sales of 1605 units – making it the fourth most popular segment of this data set (but accounts for just under one per cent of all new vehicles sold YTD).
Dominated by the Ram 1500 (with 436 units sales or 27.2 per cent of the segment), this part of the market is comprised entirely of locally converted models, making it Australia’s largest (and only) locally produced vehicle segment.
Of course, it is not possible to move away from this week’s Market Insight without looking at the marques that top the vital four-wheel drive charts.
For many years a three-horse race between Land Rover, Nissan, and Toyota, the four-wheel drive market has grown to take on almost two dozen entrants – some with a far stronger foothold than others.
OEMs with just one entrant include BYD (2026 YTD sales and 1.1 market share points), JAC (408 sales / 0.2 per cent), LDV (850 sales / 0.5 per cent), Mazda (2173 sales / 1.2 per cent), Mercedes-Benz (66 sales / less than 0.1 per cent), Suzuki (1422 sales / 0.8 per cent), and Volkswagen (931 sales / 0.5 per cent).
Importers with two model entrants include Chevrolet (with a total of 580 unit sales YTD and 0.3 market share points), Isuzu (4769 sales / 2.6 per cent), Mitsubishi (3174 sales / 1.8 per cent), SsangYong (642 sales / 0.4 per cent), Nissan (2599 sales / 1.4 per cent), Land Rover (534 sales / 0.3 per cent), and Lexus (257 sales / 0.1 per cent).
Ford, Jeep and Ram all offer three four-wheel drive models apiece. Ford sales to the end of February tallied 11,046 units (or 6.1 market share points), Jeep 297 units (0.1 per cent), and Ram 502 units (or 0.2 per cent).
Interestingly, GWM sells the second highest array of four-wheel drive models in Australia behind Toyota. With five off-rooad-ready models to choose from, the Chinese importer has sold 2452 units in the year to date, for 1.4 market share points.
Which of course brings us to king-off-the-road brand Toyota.
Providing six four-wheel-drive models to choose from, Toyota has sold a total of 14,388 units YTD, giving it a 7.9 per cent slice of the 4x4 market overall.
Whether we will see a shift in four-wheel drive vehicle sales as the full weight of the federal government’s New Vehicle Efficiency Standards (NVES) takes effect is still anyone’s guess. But with sales this strong, you can wager that sellers and buyers alike will be doing their very best to continue making hay while the sun still shines.
2025 YTD four-wheel drive ute and SUV sales*:Light SUV
Large SUV < $80K
Large SUV > $80K
Upper large SUV < $120K
Upper large SUV > $120K
Ute < $100K
Ute > $100K
*Data supplied courtesy of the FCAI.  Read more17th of March 2025  Market Insight: Ute sales in troubleFebruary markers show slowing 4x2, 4x4 diesel ute sales – could PHEVs turn it around?10th of March 2025  Market Insight: FY25 sales trend downwardJust one in eight of the past months show growth, new-vehicle sales projections dim |
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