Toyota Corolla was the number one selling car in Australia during 2013
Despite all the doom and gloom being spread by the general media Australians continue to remain optimistic. Nowhere is this better illustrated than in vehicle sales.
The official Australia statistician, Vfacts has just totted up the results for 2013, which show that 1,136,227 vehicle changed hands during the year. This is a comfortable 2.2 per cent up on the 1,112,032 sales in 2012. Making it the highest year ever.
New Holden Commodore only managed fifth spot on the sale ladder
There’s no single reason for the rise in vehicle sales, though there’s little doubt that extremely aggressive marketing played a major roll. We have seen not only price drops; but also cheap finance; reduced servicing prices, often capped for several years of purchase; and major incentives being offered by overspends head offices; and huge advertising campaigns.
Number one marque, for the 11th straight year, was Toyota, selling almost one new vehicle in every five in Australia. Toyota sales were, however down by 1.6% in a market that rose 2.2%.
Many of the Toyotas were made in Australia as Camry and Aurion continue to sell reasonably well and bolster hopes that Toyota can continue to make cars in Australia. A big plus for the Melbourne Toyota factory is that many cars it makes are exported, whereas Ford and Holden mainly sell in this country.
Despite Toyota being the top seller in Australia, 2013 was the first time the company could take pride in also having the number one selling car. Toyota Australia must really be regretting the decision to stop making Corolla in Australia and instead importing it from Japan.
Toyota Corolla pushed Mazda3, which was in the central spot on the podium during 2011 and 2012, into number two place.
However, Corolla was all-new in late 2012 whereas Mazda3 is in runout phase, with a new model due in a couple of months. Mazda Australia seems confident that it can get its ‘3 back to the top again, though it won’t come straight out and say so. Toyota has just announced it will add a long-wheelbase Corolla sedan to its range midway through February, so there’s going to be a real battle in this market segment.
Toyota HiLux ute was in third spot overall in the 2013 sales race, indicating the increase in confidence amongst tradies, as well as the continued strength of the dressed-up 4WD family pickup in Australia.
Some buyers are paying close to $70,000 to get into topline four-door pickups loaded with extras – extras with weight that significantly reduce the load carrying capacity of the vehicle, but that’s another story.
Holden was in number two position on the sales charts, but its virtually all-new Commodore launched midway through 2013, languished in fifth place overall.
Ford Falcon was so far down the sales tree, at 17th place, so as to be all but invisible. A sad state of affairs for a nameplate that was king of the market for many years.
Number three marque in Australia during 2013 was Mazda, just ahead of Hyundai, with Ford in fifth.
Fascinatingly, the biggest increases in sales were recorded by the Italian twins, Fiat and Alfa Romeo. Though they started from a low base, jumps of 651% and 162% respectively are still pretty impressive. Imports of Fiat and Alfa are now being controlled by head office in Italy, and the new Australian management team is pushing hard to make the brands part of the Australian mainstream, not simply niche players.
SUVs continue to grow in popularity, rising 8.5%, while passenger cars are down 1.6%. Some 566,454 cars were sold in total, or just over half of the 1,136,227 total sales. It looks as though cars will fall below the 50% mark for the first time ever during 2014. How times change…
The 10 top-selling marques in 2013 were:
1. Toyota 214,630
2. Holden 112,059
3. Mazda 103,144
4. Hyundai 97,006
5. Ford 87,236
6. Nissan 76,733
7. Mitsubishi 71,528
8. Volkswagen 54,892
9. Subaru 40,200
10. Honda. 39,258
The 10 top-selling passenger cars in 2013 were:
1. Toyota Corolla 43,498
2. Mazda3 42,082
3. Hyundai i30 30,582
4. Holden Commodore 27,766
5. Toyota Camry 24,860
6. Holden Cruze 24,421
7. Ford Focus 19,180
8. Mazda2 15,167
9. Toyota Yaris 14,437
10. Honda Civic 14,261
The 10 top-selling SUVs in 2013 were:
1. Mazda CX-5 20,129
2. Holden Captiva 20,033
3. Toyota RAV4 16,983
4. Toyota Prado 14,568
5. Ford Territory 14,261
6. Subaru Forester 13,849
7. Toyota Kluger 12,668
8. Honda CR-V 12,510
9. Nissan Dualis 12,434
10. Subaru XV 10,764
