Medium SUV sales growth tracked, top sellers over a decade

Medium SUV sales and share in Australia almost doubled over the past decade, as buyers abandoned traditional passenger-car segments at a rate of knots.

Australians took delivery of around 1.74 million new medium SUVs over the past 10 years, across the mainstream and luxury segments.

Annualised mid-sized SUV sales spiked from 119,464 units in 2013 to a record 216,151 units in 2022, with each increase coming steadily despite two years of COVID-related stock shortages.

This equates to growth in medium SUV market share from 10.5 per cent to 20.0 per cent – sufficient to make this the most popular of all vehicle segments last year, ahead of 4×4 utes.

This near-doubling is explained by the fact the new car market has actually failed to grow over the past decade.

Market-wide sales tallied in 2013 (1,136,227) were actually 4.8 per cent greater than what we saw moved across 2022 (1,081,429), the year in which medium SUVs set their high-water mark.

As you’d expect, the dramatic increase in medium SUV uptake has attracted a raft of new nameplates over the past decade, adding competitiveness. However the majority of these new products sit within the high-margin luxury end of the market.

Between 2013 and 2022, the number of individual medium SUV nameplates classified as mainstream (VFACTS calls them Medium SUV < $60,000) on sale only oscillated between 17 nameplates and 24 nameplates.

Core vehicles in this segment include top-sellers such as the Toyota RAV4, Mazda CX-5, Hyundai Tucson, Kia Sportage, Mitsubishi Outlander, Nissan X-Trail, and Volkswagen Tiguan – among myriad others.

But over the same period, the number of luxury medium SUV nameplates (dubbed Medium SUV > $60,000 in VFACTS) over the same 10-year period spiked from just five offerings in 2013, to 20 offerings in 2022.

Core vehicles in this segment include the Mercedes-Benz GLC, BMW X3, Audi Q5, Volvo XC60, and Lexus NX.

We’ve also collated annual sales since 2013 to find out what the top-selling medium SUVs are. The results are, to be honest, not that surprising.

Top 20 Medium SUVs 2013-22 – mainstream

1. Toyota RAV4: 249,739
2. Mazda CX-5: 242,952
3. Nissan X-Trail: 156,106
4. Mitsubishi Outlander: 138,185
5. Hyundai Tucson: 134,715
6. Subaru Forester: 127,504
7. Kia Sportage: 108,691
8. Honda CR-V: 102,742
9. Volkswagen Tiguan: 82,857
10. Renault Koleos: 21,833
11. MG HS: 20,485
12. Ford Escape: 18,978
13. Ford Kuga: 18,747
14. Holden Captiva 5: 17,896
15. Jeep Cherokee: 15,722
16. Haval H6: 14,609
17. Holden Equinox: 12,032
18. Suzuki Grand Vitara: 11,174
19. Peugeot 3008: 6181
20. Skoda Karoq: 5531

Top 20 Medium SUVs 2013-22 – luxury

1. BMW X3/X4: 49,494
2. Mercedes-Benz GLC/GLC Coupe: 40,213
3. Audi Q5: 35,605
4. Lexus NX: 27,759
5. Volvo XC60: 25,246
6. Range Rover Evoque: 19,470
7. Land Rover Discovery Sport: 18,774
8. Porsche Macan: 18,560
9. Tesla Model Y: 8717
10. Mercedes-Benz GLB: 6317

Medium SUV sales and share 2013-22

Medium SUV number of nameplates 2013-22