Australian new car sales dropped by 2.0 per-cent in 2013 but, with a total of 1,113,224 vehicles sold, last year was on the third on record to top 1.1 million.
Toyota again dominated – Australia’s best-selling automotive brand for the 12th consecutive year and the 18th time overall – with sales of 203,501 down by 5.2 per-cent on 2012 but more than double the total achieved by second-best Holden.
Toyota was number one in passenger cars, SUVs and light commercial vehicles, Corolla, HiLux and Camry were all amongst Australia’s top-10 best-selling nameplates and Toyota was number one in eight market segments.
Holden sales dropped by 5.3 per-cent – totaling 106,092.
Mazda was again Australia’s best-selling full import brand, recording a total of 100,704 sales and Toyota Corolla (43,735 sales) topped the Mazda3 (43,313) by only 422 vehicles for the ranking as Australia’s best-selling model.
Only 693 vehicles behind Mazda was fourth-placed Hyundai (100,011 sales). Hyundai (up by 3.1 per-cent) and Subaru (up by 0.8 per-cent) were the only brands in the top 10 to grow sales last year.
Sixth best-seller Nissan (66,025) saw a sales decline of 14 per-cent and tenth best-seller Honda (32,998) was down by 15.9 per-cent.
In the battle of the German luxury brands, Mercedes-Benz continued its leadership posting sales of 31,895 vehicles, ahead of BMW with 22,722. Life seems to be getting increasingly difficult for BMW with third-best Audi sales up by more than 20 per-cent to 19,227 units.
Overall the shifting trend of new car purchases continued further in 2013 with passenger car sales down by 6.1 per-cent to now account for just 47.8 per-cent of the total. SUV sales grew to a new record of 352,347 sales and SUVs combined with light commercial vehicles now deliver almost one in every two new vehicles sold in Australia.
New South Wales was the only state to increase new vehicle sales last year (up by 1.5 per-cent) however sales in Tasmania declined by 9.7 per-cent.
Commenting on the result, Tony Weber, chief of the Canberra-based Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) said competition and initiatives like the Japan Free Trade Agreement were producing tangible benefits for consumers.
“We have an immensely competitive market with 67 brands offering 350 models,” Mr Weber revealed. “And consumers benefit - COMSEC figures confirm current new car prices represent the best-ever levels of affordability.
Australia’s best-selling models last year were:
- Toyota Corolla (43,735)
- Mazda3 (43,313)
- Toyota HiLux (38,126)
- Hyundai i30 (31,505)
- Holden Commodore (30,203)
- Ford Ranger (26,619)
- Mitsubishi Triton (24,256)
- Toyota Camry (22,044)
- Mazda CX5 (21,571)
- Volkswagen Golf (19,545)
Top 10 makes – 2014
- Toyota – 203,501
- Holden – 106,092
- Mazda – 100,704
- Hyundai – 100,011
- Ford – 79,703
- Mitsubishi – 68,637
- Nissan – 66,025
- Volkswagen – 54,081
- Subaru – 40,502
- Honda – 32,998
