Utes and four-wheel-drives are still South Australian staples, according to statistics released by the Motor Trade Association.
The Toyota HiLux was once again the best selling new car at 2727 vehicles across the first three quarters of 2023.
The Ford Ranger was close behind, selling 2488 vehicles
Out of the five top selling new cars in South Australia, four are 4WD and three are utes.
Rounding out the top five in order were the Toyota RAV4, Mitsubishi Outlander and Isuzu Ute D-Max.
Electric vehicles have continued their growing popularity, increasing by 244 per cent this year.
Tesla remains the favourite EV manufacturer but MTA chief executive officer Darrell Jacobs said other manufacturers were quickly catching up.
Despite the rise of EVs, Mr Jacobs said EV uptake across regional and rural South Australia was still a considerable time off.
"EVs are still out of the price range for the majority of motorists and compounding this issue further is the lack of options available in our favourite makes and models," he said.
"Four out of our five most popular new cars in South Australia this year have either been utes or 4X4s and the cheapest electric vehicle ute currently on the market is in excess of $90,000.
"South Australians still love their utes and 4WDs and this reinforces why we cannot switch to EVs overnight.
"We also do not want to punish sectors which traditionally rely on utes for their towing and payload capacity.
"In countries like Norway, motorists have replaced their city car with an EV but have kept their ute or SUV for regional driving or holiday trips."
Mr Jacobs hopes the state government doesn't follow other states in scrapping the $3000 subsidy and three-year registration exemption for new EV owners.
"Ongoing incentives will be required to help motorists consider an electric vehicle without forcing them to purchase something beyond their financial means," he said.
The Motor Trade Association this month delivered its first electric vehicle upskilling training in regional South Australia to prepare the automotive industry to sell, service and repair the growing number of EVs on our roads.
