12 Brand-New Utes and 4WDs Nobody Wants - ROTTING on Aussie Lots (And the Discount You Can Get)

📕 The Aussie Car Buyer's Bible — the engines I'd walk away from + my 10-minute inspection 👉 https://aussiemechanicgreg.com Fifty-eight. That is how many JAC T9 utes left Australian showroom floors in September. A Ford Ranger did 4,824 in the same thirty days. Twelve brand-new utes and 4WDs are selling in double and low triple digits a month here while being discounted by five figures, and that gap is the only negotiating position a private buyer has had in years. So I went through the published September sales sheet, model by model, and put a hard number on all twelve. Worst to best — and worst does not mean slowest seller, it means what I would not take at any discount. Two to avoid at any price, four only if a dealer is close enough to tow to, four American and too dear, and three I would genuinely buy. The one with the biggest money off it is the one I would take home, and it will annoy a few of you. What I cover: - All twelve named, with their September sales figures — down to the one that sold 58 cars nationally - The two things that actually strand you on a low-volume brand — the dealer count and the parts pipeline, not the engine - Which of them has no ANCAP rating at all, and why unrated is not the same thing as unsafe - The documented airbag discrepancy ANCAP flagged in August, and the 2025 recall totals by brand - The one still on dealer floors as last year's build, and the drive-away price it was advertised at - The big-American-pickup numbers, and the one genuine V8 bargain in the. FACT-CHECK: Sales are the published monthly VFACTS/FCAI figures as reported. Sept 2026: 4x4 ute market 16,045 (-13.1%), YTD 140,410 (-13.6%); light commercials -13.2% while the overall market rose. Sept sales, the twelve: Navara 338, Tasman 336, Silverado 1500+HD 293, Amarok 244, Terron 9 239, Ram 1500 145, F-150 128, Tunland 126, MG U9 119, Tundra 104, Musso 75, JAC T9 58. Not slow: Ranger 4,824 4x4 (35,744 YTD), HiLux 3,975 (32,238), Shark 6 1,492 (13,586), D-MAX 1,393 (13,340), Triton 1,016 (11,821), Cannon 788 (8,001), BT-50 606, T60 375, Prado 2,006 (+6.4%), Everest 16,203 YTD. Sept brand totals: VW -36.9%, Nissan -30.0%, KGM -37.0%, JAC -47.3%, Chevrolet -16.9%, Ram -12.5%, Isuzu Ute +1.0%, LDV +20.8%. April 2026: Ram 1500 121 (nearly halved), Silverado 1500 128 (-17.9%), F-150 84 (+61.5%), JAC T9 56; Tasman 467 in Jan; the pickup class priced over $100,000 recorded 8,763 sales in 2025 (-17.4%) and 560 in April (-12.5%); Shark 6 March deliveries 1,314 (-53% YoY). Discounts are published, dated offers, several now closed: Kia cut up to $13,000 in May (X-Pro $64,990 drive-away, from $77,990) on 2025-built dual-cabs understood to be much of dealer stock, and in Sept listed the SX+ from $54,990 drive-away plus $5,000 cashback on in-stock new and demo 2025-built vehicles understood to be most of the stock (offer period 1 May-30 Sept 2026); Kia has acknowledged its 20,000-unit target was overly ambitious. Previous-gen Navara SL $44,990 drive-away in run-out; the new D27 Navara is a locally tuned Triton twin, $53,348-$68,418 before on-roads, up to $6,000 more than the equivalent Triton. KGM: $5,010 factory bonus on the Musso dual-cab. LDV T60 Max Pro $36,990 drive-away, ABN holders. GWM: up to $3,000 off diesel Cannon. Ford: close to $15,000 off parts of the Ranger Hybrid range. Mazda's 2025 plate clearance runs while stocks last. Unsold 2024 model-year Ram 1500 DT V8s remain at dealers. Safety/network: the Tunland was unrated by ANCAP as of May 2026, and ANCAP publicly called on Foton to supply test vehicles; the Musso EV is unrated and ANCAP flagged in Aug 2026 that KGM claimed eight airbags while the Australian car has six; the T60 is unrated; the JAC T9 holds five stars, applying to its 2.0-litre diesel variants; the MG U9 is reported to hold five stars and is the LDV Terron underneath. 2025 recall totals: KGM 15,284, MG 10,516, JAC 161. Foton has 28 dealerships nationally; JAC 47 locations, none in Tasmania or the NT. Toyota has said it cannot rule out ute and 4x4 price increases once NVES light-commercial targets tighten from 2027. A July 2026 dealer-offer study found utes had the tightest offer spread of any body type (9.5% median). DISCLAIMER: General information and my honest opinion — NOT purchasing, financial or safety advice. No manufacturer, importer, distributor or dealer is accused of any wrongdoing. Slow sales are a market fact, not a fault: nothing here says any of these vehicles is poorly built or unsafe, and a vehicle ANCAP has not rated is unrated, not unsafe. Safety findings, recall totals and dealer counts are as published by ANCAP, the national recall register and motoring media, and may have changed. All prices and drive-away figures are indicative, vary by dealer and state, and several offers mentioned have already ended — confirm everything with the dealer in writing before you commit.