Hard Steel America and Japan! Analysis of the Pickup Market in Australia, Opportunities and Challenges for Domestic Exports

Looking at the global automobile market, if it is mentioned in which country the pickup truck sells well, then Australia must not be ignored.

In 2023, the total new sales of passenger cars and commercial vehicles in the Australian automobile market will be 1216780, a new record set over the years. Among them, the four-wheel drive pickup truck models will occupy 17.2% of the market share (about 209300), which is just the market share of four-wheel drive pickup trucks.

In the list of sales in the Australian automobile market in 2023, the top three are occupied by pickups; at that time Ford Ranger （ parameter | picture ）(Parameters | Inquiry) 63356 vehicles were sold, and 61111 vehicles were sold by Toyota Hilux, Isuzu D-MAX (Parameters | Inquiry) A total of 31202 vehicles were sold, far exceeding the sales of other passenger SUVs and cars. It can be seen that pickups have a large audience in Australia.

In the Australian pickup truck sales list of the same year, we also saw the strong strength of China's pickup truck export, ranking in the top ten. The Great Wall Cannon (parameter | inquiry) sold 9616 vehicles, up 23.2% year on year, including 9363 four drive vehicles and 253 two drive vehicles; SAIC MAXUS T60 sold 9106 vehicles, up 52.8% year on year, including 9027 4-drive vehicles and 79 2-drive vehicles.

The two products not only demonstrate their own strong strength of four-wheel drive products, it is worth mentioning that some models sold by SAIC MAXUS LDV T60 include eT60, which is the only medium-sized pure electric pickup truck in Australia at present, causing local attention to such products.

Thanks to the achievements of self owned brands in the Australian market in 2023, many automobile enterprises have also entered the Australian market this year. For example, Great Wall has been listed Mountain sea cannon Shanhai artillery HEV, JAC T9; In addition, more new car companies and new models will enter the Australian pickup market, such as BYD pickup trucks currently taking part in road tests, which will be exported to Australia Radar RD6 wait.

When it comes to exports, adjusting measures to local conditions is the top priority. By integrating the above exported domestic models, we can find that most of these domestic models are medium-sized pickup trucks, which is closely related to the local vehicle environment.

From 20 century Since the 1930s, Ford Australia has invented the name "Ute" (multi-function car card), which is more suitable for the local pickup in Australia. Unlike the "big pickup culture" in the United States, the Australian pickup culture is more practical. Compared with the modification of large pickups prevalent in the United States, Australia will prefer medium-sized pickups.

For this conclusion, the Australian automobile market has sufficient data support. From the annual sales volume in 2023 to April 2024, the top three pickup trucks have been Ford Ranger, Toyota Hilux and Isuzu D-MAX; In addition, according to the sales ranking of pickup trucks in Australia in 2023, the top ten are basically medium-sized pickup trucks, while full size pickup trucks with high sales in the United States, such as Ford F-150 RAM 1500 and RAM 1500, however, performed mediocrely in the Australian sales list.

You should know that Australia is a developed country, and its per capita GDP is not far behind that of the United States. The reason why the sales of full-size pickups in Australia are not high is because of the following reasons.

1. Product import and export

With the official announcement of the suspension of production of Holden Automobile in Australia, the Australian automobile market has lost the existence of local enterprises and gradually been occupied by imported automobile enterprises. For many foreign automobile enterprises, product import has become a major problem.

Taking Japanese brands as an example, the full-size pickup truck previously sold in Australia is Toyota A smooth journey And Nissan Titan. After the latter stopped production, only Toyota Tanto had a full-size pickup truck with Japanese blood left. At present, the main assembly plant of this car is in the Toyota Motor Manufacturing Company (TMMTX) vehicle plant in the United States, and there is no local factory in Australia. So if you want to buy such a car, the cost pressure of the car company is high, and the price will rise with the transportation costs. This money can only fall on the head of consumers, which is why Toyota Tantu will only sell 20 cars in Australia in 2023.

2. Registered road tax expense

In Australia, pickups of different specifications and sizes need to pay different registration fees according to local rules (such as the weight of vehicles, the number of engine cylinders, etc.). The bigger the vehicle is, the heavier the power is, and the more registration fees need to be paid. For example, in New South Wales (domain name), Kia Picanto (small car) needs to pay a road tax of AUD 264, while the owner of RAM 1500 needs to pay a road tax of AUD 733.

In addition, in Queensland (local domain name), the registration fee needs to be calculated based on the number of cylinders, and the 4-cylinder engine needs to pay $360. For full-size pickups with more cylinders, such as the HEMI 5.7L V8 engine equipped with the old RAM 1500, the road tax fee of $799 needs to be paid.

3. Usage habit&recognition

In 1934, Ford's local engineers in Australia launched the first Ute applicable to the life of Australian people. Later, for a long time, the car card has always existed in the life of Australian people, whether traveling or carrying goods, Ute is competent. It can be said that this kind of model that integrates cars and pickups is very suitable for the Australian market. Up to now, local people have a special preference for this kind of light, convenient and small pickups.

On the other hand, cycling is very popular in Australia. A local media report once said that a cycling group recommended banning large pickups in urban areas. It can be seen that the local people's recognition of full-size pickups is not very high.

Through the above restrictions, we can basically understand the reasons for the low sales of full-size pickups in Australia. However, recently, the local people have gradually understood the advantages of full-size pickups in space, power and transportation, and their demand for such models is gradually increasing.

In addition, due to terrain factors, there are many mountain roads in Australia, and the roads are rough and bumpy, which gives a great test to the road trafficability of vehicles. Compared with two drive pickups, four-wheel drive pickups have stronger power, handling and road accessibility, which can bring great convenience to local users.

In the Australian car market in 2023, 4WD pickup trucks will occupy 17.2% of the market share (about 209300), and 4WD pickup trucks will occupy the majority of the market share in the entire Australian pickup market. For example, Ford Ranger sold 63356 cars in 2023, 58621 four-wheel drive cars in 2023, 9616 Great Wall Gun cars in 2023, and 9363 four-wheel drive cars in 2023.

In addition, the sales of four-wheel drive pickups in the whole Australian market will keep growing in 2024. In January 2024, 15966 four-wheel drive pickups were sold, up 12.9% year on year; In February 2024, 17959 four-wheel drive pickups were sold, with a year-on-year growth of 29.4%; In March 2024, 17629 four-wheel drive pickups were sold, up 7% year on year; In April 2024, 16198 four-wheel drive pickups were sold, up 32.8% year on year.

The local emphasis on 4WD pickup models in the Australian market is obvious. In this year, the sales of 4WD pickup models continue to rise compared with 2023. Now that you know what kind of pickups local users like, you need to know which brand is highly recognized in the local market. But you must have an answer in your mind.

From the above data, we can see that the medium-sized pickups with a wide local audience are still occupied by Ford, Toyota and other product giants. Refer to the Top 10 Pickup Sales in Australia in 2023:

1. 63356 Ford Rangers (+33.4%)

2. 61111 Toyota Hilux vehicles (- 5.1%)

3. Isuzu D-MAX 31202 vehicles (+28.2%)

4. Mazda BT-50 17526 vehicles (+35.4%)

5. 16641 Mitsubishi Triton vehicles (- 39.3%)

6. Toyota LC70 11414 vehicles (+0.2%)

7. 9616 Great Wall Cannons (+23.2%)

8. SAIC MAXUS T60 9106 vehicles (+52.8%)

9. Nissan Navarra (Parameter | Inquiry) 8499 vehicles (- 19.3%)

10. Volkswagen Amarok 6626 vehicles (+46.8%)

From the above data, it can be seen that the top ten are basically occupied by American and Japanese cars, of which the Japanese pickup truck occupies 6 seats, and Ford Ranger also surpassed Toyota Hilux for the first time in 7 years, before which Toyota Hilux has been in a dominant position, which shows that Japanese brands have almost monopolized the pickup truck market in Australia.

Early Japanese pickup trucks have been favored by many consumers because of their durable leather and high cost performance. Japanese cars have a long history of going to sea. Japanese cars have been sold all over the world since the cradle of China's automobile industry.

Nevertheless, with the attitude of "the latecomers come first", through strong product strength and more cost-effective advantages, in 2023, China's automobile export volume will finally surpass that of Japanese cars and become the first, opening up a new path in the global market.

In the Australian pickup truck market, with the excellent sales performance of Great Wall, SAIC MAXUS and other models, it has provided a market for subsequent domestic models to enter Australia. In the future, Australia will also list a number of domestic pickup trucks, hoping that the product strength of domestic pickup trucks will be recognized by more Australian users.