Toyota’s dominance of Australian new car sales continued in July with Corolla Australia’s best-selling car and HiLux number two. So far this year, Toyota’s cumulative total of 123,543 is more than double the total of second-placed Holden (61,684).
But, Toyota, like all brands is seeing a slow-down in demand as fleet customers ponder the Fringe Benefits Tax outcome of the looming Federal Election.
“We have already experienced customers holding back from placing new orders until the FBT situation is clarified,” explained Tony Cramb, Toyota Australia’s sales and marketing chief. “At the same time, the success of Corolla and HiLux have been instrumental in driving Toyota’s sales to more than 17,400 for July and a market share of 19.3 per-cent.”
So Toyota remained number one with July sales of 17,433, ahead of Holden (10,137), Mazda (8,525) and Hyundai (8,009).
In total, Australian bought 90,235 new vehicles in July – 3,594 or 4.1 per-cent more than July 12 months ago.
Perhaps making the most of pre-election optimism from consumers, Mazda posted record July sales and the first month of the new Financial Year was an all-time record for the Jeep, Alfa Romeo and Fiat brands in Australia.
Mazda sold 8,525 vehicles last month – 7.2 per-cent up on May 2012. Year to-date, Mazda – Australia’s most popular full-line importer has topped 60,812 sales for a market share of 9.2 per-cent and is firmly entrenched as our number three best-selling marque.
For Fiat Chrysler, excellent news for the just-launched updated Jeep Grand Cherokee which racked-up July sales of 1,196 vehicles to be our best-selling large SUV (more than 100 vehicles ahead of its nearest rival). And the re-launched Fiat 500 compact (now priced from $14,000 ‘Driveaway’) has hit a sweet spot with compact car buyers, achieving 236 sales in July – more than seven times the number sold in July 2012).
