Toyota continues to dominate Australia new cars sales – the Japanese company’s 18,653 sales in March were more than 1,000 sales ahead of the combined total of second and third-placed Mazda and Nissan.
For Toyota, the results are its best March and first quarter result in three years. With first quarter sales of 48,045, Toyota has sold around 80 per-cent more vehicles in Australia than any other brand.
“We are aiming to sell more than 200,000 Toyota vehicles in 2013, helping to drive the entire industry to a fourth consecutive year in excess of one million sales,” explained Toyota’s sales and marketing chief Matthew Callachor.
Mazda posted its strongest month of the year with March sales of 9,112 vehicles to finish the first quarter in second position overall with sales of 26,752, up 0.9 per-cent over last year and a market share of 9.8 per-cent to be the best-selling full-line importer. Mazda also recorded its best-ever Japanese Financial Year (ends 31 March) result of 104,125 sales.
Nissan is also enjoying unprecedented success – Marsh sales of 8,327 were its best-ever March result and the second-highest monthly sales figure. For the Japanese financial year, Nissan’s Australian sales were also a record.
In the sensationalist general media, the big news was Mazda, Nissan and Hyundai moving ahead of Holden (fifth best-selling brand with March sales of 8,283).
It was a record month for Hyundai and the Korean giant says its total passenger car sales of 6000 vehicles were good enough for second position overall. “These results are a strong indication that our model range strategy is right on track, as we continue to offer Australian consumers a winning combination of design, technology, efficiency and affordability,” revealed Hyundai Australia sales chief Damien Meredith.
Ford placed sixth with March sales of 6,434 vehicles.
Also popping the champagne corks were Subaru after posting a new all-time record month with sales of 4219 vehicles (the previous best was 4116 in June 2008) and Fiat Chrysler Group which rounded-out March with the best quarter ever – 6,363 vehicles, 39.3 per-cent up on the first quarter last year.
