Hilux vs Ranger – it's down to the wire

In one corner, the Toyota Hilux, New Zealand’s best selling ute for the last 32 years. In the other corner, Ford's Ranger. Ranger is the (relatively) new kid; Hilux the old hand and showing its age in several areas. The two have been battling it out for ute supremacy all year and, in sales figures to the end of October, Ranger had a slight lead: 5061 units vs 4778. The month went to Ranger, selling 627 units. Hilux managed 514. Some say the Ranger will wrest the top ute title from Toyota this year, but you have to think that Toyota has some late punches to throw. Who'd want to be part of the marketing team that lost sales supremacy in this sector for the first time in more than three decades?
 
Overall, the new commercial market has had its strongest year to date, ever. The sector was up 14 per cent for October on the same month last year with YTD sales up 21 per cent to 30,806. Meanwhile, the new car market had biggest October since 1975. The month’s most popular new cars were, in order, Toyota Corolla (1257), Toyota Yaris (438) and Holden Commodore (294).