Isuzu MU-X loosens Toyota stranglehold on large SUV sales

The Isuzu MU-X was the best-selling vehicle in its segment in April for the second month in a row, outselling the likes of the typically dominant Toyota Prado, as well as the Kia Sorento, Subaru Outback and Ford Everest.

Isuzu Ute Australia managed to deliver a total of 1095 MU-Xs in April, up 66.4 per cent on the same month last year, and now holds a 14.9 per cent share in VFACTS’ Large SUV under $70,000 segment.

Despite the MU-X being the best-selling vehicle in its segment in April, it’s not even a record sales month for the company. That would be when 1297 MU-X examples were sold during September 2021.

In terms of its Large SUV competitors last month, the Kia Sorento came in second place with 814 registrations (up 54.5 per cent on April 2022), followed by the supply-constrained Toyota Prado rounding out the podium with 762 registrations (down 53.3 per cent).

These sat ahead of the Subaru Outback (752, up 44.9 per cent) and Ford Everest (677, down 10.7 per cent).

Year-to-date, the MU-X is also on top with 4893 registrations (up 53.3 per cent), followed by the Toyota Prado (3982 registrations, down 56.7 per cent), the Kia Sorento (3979, up 177.9 per cent), the Subaru Outback (3831, up 56.6 per cent), and the Ford Everest (3644, up 37.3 per cent).

The Large SUV under $70,000 segment as a whole is down 0.1 per cent year-to-date, with 36,758 units sold thus far in 2023.

While it’s still early in the year, the Toyota Prado has dominated the Large SUV under $70,000 segment for a number of years now. The last time it was outsold for yearly registrations was in 2014, when it was beaten by the Jeep Grand Cherokee.

Beyond the MU-X, the D-Max ute was the seventh best-selling vehicle overall last month with 1809 registrations. It was beaten by the likes of the Ford Ranger (3567) and the Toyota HiLux (3526).

Isuzu Ute is the second best-selling brand in Australia with only two vehicles currently on sale, behind Tesla. The former is currently in 11th place (2904, down 4.2 per cent), and the later is in seventh place (3676 registrations).

“Across the month of April, we’re pleased to see that our MU-X remains the top-selling large SUV under $70k, for the second month in a row and that D-MAX remains one of the top-selling nameplates overall,” said a Isuzu Ute Australia spokesperson.

“While it is a solid indication that the market continues to gravitate towards capable seven-seat SUVs and utes, we believe that our numbers, like the rest of the industry, could be higher if we weren’t affected by some of the recent supply chain challenges, particularly as we’ve seen of late in Victoria.

“We remain hopeful that the market will continue to recover in the near future.”

Both the Isuzu MU-X and D-Max recently received minor specification tweaks inside and out for the 2023 model year.

Many of these changes were aesthetic, but also included a new auto-off function for its blind-spot monitoring and rear cross-traffic alert system when a trailer is hitched up and detected via the genuine trailer plug accessory.

MORE: Everything Isuzu MU-X