If you thought the 1.2 million new cars delivered to Australian buyers in 2023 was impressive, the almost 2.1 million used vehicles that changed hands last year shows the pandemic-driven boom hasn’t stopped – but might be cooling down.
Data published by the Australian Automotive Dealer Association (AADA) – compiled in partnership with AutoGrab – shows there were 2,074,535 used cars sold locally last year, with 2,013,465 vehicles having been physically listed for sale.
According to the AADA’s Automotive Insights Report (AIR), approximately 61 per cent of the used cars listed for sale were done so privately, and the remaining 39 per cent were advertised by dealers.
Despite used cars outselling new vehicles by 57 per cent, the AADA says the value of secondhand vehicles sold declined throughout the year and took longer to sell – reflecting the increasing cost of living.
As was the case in the new car sales charts, the Ford Ranger ended the year as the most popular used vehicle to be listed, ahead of its Toyota HiLux ute rival.
Despite traditional passenger vehicles falling outside the top 10 in new car sales, the Toyota Corolla, Mazda 3 and Hyundai i30 completed the first five spots for used vehicles.
Also bucking new car trends were the Toyota Camry and Holden Commodore, representing large models which have fallen out of favour with factory-fresh buyers but are still popular among used buyers.
Rounding out the top 10 were the Nissan Navara and Mitsubishi Triton utes, as well as the Toyota LandCruiser – though this includes both the luxury and utilitarian versions of the popular nameplate.
The top three brands in the used vehicle market reflected those in the new car charts, with Toyota leading the way, followed by Mazda and Ford.
Hyundai followed closely behind and was tailed by Holden, despite the Australian brand ending new car sales at the end of December 2020.
Japanese rivals Mitsubishi and Nissan beat out Volkswagen, which was well ahead of Kia and Mercedes-Benz rounding out the top 10.
Australia’s used car market also followed the trend of the new car buyer’s fuel preferences, with almost two-thirds (65.8 per cent) of vehicles listed being powered by petrol engines, ahead of diesels with 30.6 per cent market share.
On the other hand, sales of used hybrids, electric vehicles (EVs) and plug-in hybrids (PHEVs) accounted for just 3.4 per cent of used car sales combined with 2.7 per cent, 0.6 per cent and 0.1 per cent shares, respectively.
This was in stark contrast to the new car market where 48.4 per cent of sales came from petrol vehicles, 31.2 per cent from diesels, 8.1 per cent were hybrids, 7.2 per cent were EVs and 0.9 per cent were PHEVs.
Top 10 best-selling used cars in 2023
| Make and Model | Sales |
|---|---|
| Ford Ranger | 65,938 |
| Toyota HiLux | 65,852 |
| Toyota Corolla | 52,112 |
| Mazda 3 | 47,294 |
| Hyundai i30 | 43,551 |
| Holden Commodore | 41,694 |
| Toyota Camry | 39,897 |
| Nissan Navara | 37,228 |
| Mitsubishi Triton | 36,812 |
| Toyota LandCruiser | 32,655 |
Top 10 best-selling used brands in 2023
| Make | Sales |
|---|---|
| Toyota | 344,653 |
| Mazda | 170,165 |
| Ford | 165,381 |
| Hyundai | 155,741 |
| Holden | 150,246 |
| Mitsubishi | 118,882 |
| Nissan | 118,492 |
| Volkswagen | 108,495 |
| Kia | 74,527 |
| Subaru | 68,267 |
MORE: Australian used car sales figures revealed for the first time
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MORE: VFACTS 2023 – All-time Australian sales record, Ford Ranger tops charts
