Private buyers account for the majority of new car sales in Australia, but there’s another category of car purchaser that flies under the radar – governments and business fleets.
According to VFACTS data from the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI), governments and businesses were responsible for over 500,000 new light vehicle sales in Australia last year, and a few models stood out as particularly popular choices.
At the top of the list sits the Ford Ranger – a favourite among tradies and office workers alike.
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Ford Ranger -
Toyota HiLux
The Toyota HiLux – another ute – finished second overall in the fleet sales charts with nearly double the fleet sales of the third-placed Toyota RAV4. Indeed, four of the top five fleet sellers for 2024 were utes.
The Toyota HiAce was the only vehicle outside the ute and SUV segments to make the top 10 with 9411 fleet sales, accounting for 77.9 percent of all HiAce deliveries in 2024.
At the other end of the spectrum, none of the 138 Lotus Emira sports cars delivered in 2024 were registered to fleet buyers. Indeed, Lotus didn’t sell a single car to fleets.
| Model | Total sales | Fleet sales | % of sales to fleets |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ford Ranger | 62,593 | 45,710 | 73.0% |
| Toyota HiLux | 53,499 | 36,373 | 68.0% |
| Toyota RAV4 | 58,718 | 19,130 | 32.6% |
| Isuzu D-Max | 30,194 | 18,154 | 60.1% |
| Mitsubishi Triton | 18,077 | 14,126 | 78.1% |
| Mitsubishi Outlander | 27,613 | 13,250 | 48.0% |
| Ford Everest | 26,494 | 11,543 | 43.6% |
| Mazda BT-50 | 15,164 | 10,682 | 70.4% |
| Toyota HiAce van | 12,082 | 9411 | 77.9% |
| Toyota LandCruiser 70 Series | 11,929 | 8276 | 69.4% |
| Toyota Corolla | 24,027 | 8258 | 34.4% |
| Toyota Camry | 15,041 | 8054 | 53.5% |
| Kia Sportage | 22,210 | 7558 | 34.0% |
| Toyota LandCruiser | 15,257 | 7457 | 48.9% |
| Hyundai Tucson | 19,061 | 6197 | 32.5% |
| Mazda CX-5 | 22,835 | 5910 | 25.9% |
| Isuzu MU-X | 17,978 | 5893 | 32.8% |
| Nissan X-Trail | 17,494 | 5469 | 31.3% |
| MG ZS | 22,629 | 5429 | 24.0% |
The data also reveals what vehicles have the highest percentage of sales to government and business buyers.
Mercedes-Benz and LDV were popular brands among fleet buyers, accounting for nine of the top 20 models by percentage of sales.
People movers, vans and sedans attracted a higher proportion of fleet sales compared to SUVs, hatches and sports cars, although the Mercedes-AMG GT Coupe was an outlier in that regard.
We’ve excluded the Hyundai Nexo and Toyota Mirai hydrogen fuel-cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) as these are exclusively offered to fleets and can’t be purchased by private buyers.
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Mercedes-Benz B-Class
We’ve also excluded vehicles launched late in 2024, where the vast majority of examples were registered to car companies or dealers. This includes the Mazda CX-70 and Skoda Enyaq, of which around 90 per cent technically went to business buyers.
The Toyota Tundra also only officially went on sale in December, with previously delivered examples being offered to customers only via special leasing program. Of its 469 sales in 2024, 409 – or 87.2 per cent – went to business or government buyers.
Another unusual example is the Dodge Journey, of which six examples were registered in 2024 despite the vehicle being discontinued in 2016. These were ex-Stellantis field cars that had been used by the company, and then on-sold.
Just missing out on a top 20 spot was the popular Mitsubishi Triton – of the 18,077 examples delivered in 2024, 78.1 percent were sold to fleet buyers.
| Model | Total sales | Fleet sales | % of sales to fleets |
|---|---|---|---|
| LDV MIFA 9 | 20 | 20 | 100.0% |
| Mercedes-Benz B-Class | 2 | 2 | 100.0% |
| Ford Transit Custom | 3427 | 3126 | 91.2% |
| Mercedes-AMG GT Coupe | 8 | 7 | 87.5% |
| Toyota Tundra | 469 | 409 | 87.2% |
| Mercedes-Benz Vito/eVito | 504 | 429 | 85.1% |
| Mercedes-Benz EQS | 20 | 17 | 85.0% |
| Peugeot Partner | 493 | 417 | 84.6% |
| Mercedes-Benz Marco Polo | 65 | 55 | 84.6% |
| Audi A4 | 511 | 426 | 83.4% |
| Volkswagen Transporter | 875 | 730 | 83.4% |
| Citroen C5 Aircross | 54 | 45 | 83.3% |
| LDV V80 | 347 | 288 | 83.0% |
| Peugeot Expert/E-Expert | 320 | 264 | 82.5% |
| Kia Niro | 1455 | 1200 | 82.5% |
| Hyundai Staria | 4866 | 3964 | 81.5% |
| Skoda Superb | 153 | 123 | 80.4% |
| Audi A8 | 10 | 8 | 80.0% |
| Mercedes-Benz V-Class | 274 | 216 | 78.8% |
| Mercedes-Benz EQV | 14 | 11 | 78.6% |
MORE: VFACTS 2024: New vehicle sales hit record high, but slump expected soon
