The solid rise in sales of new vehicles comes at a time when households are more nervous about rising costs and the Reserve Bank of Australia keeps lifting rates to try to curb runaway inflation.

The Ford Ranger ute displaced its long-time rival the Toyota HiLux as the No.1 selling vehicle of any type as the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries announced its latest monthly sales figures on Friday. There were 5628 Ford Rangers sold, and Toyota HiLux was No.2 at 4884.

Uneven supply of new vehicles meant the Tesla Model Y dropped out of the Top 10 vehicles of any type in Australia after racing to the No.3 position in September.

The FCAI figures showed Tesla overall notched sales of 1109 in October, comprising 33 Tesla Model 3 vehicles, and 1076 Tesla Model Y. That put the Tesla Model Y at No.17 in the rankings. The MG ZS model was No.5 of all players, with 2293 sold. It is positioned as the cheapest electric car on the market in Australia, but not all of those MG ZS vehicles are fully electric.