Hot hatches are dead in Australia? Not so fast...

A number of iconic hot hatches have been retired in recent years, but those still available are reaping the benefits of a hungry market.

There's arguably never been a better time – or perhaps a more desperate desire – to get into a new hot hatch, with today's models proving immensely capable, wildly entertaining and safer than ever before.

With the all-electric all-the-time era approaching seemingly faster than any hot hatch's best lap time, and with the growing cost-of-living crisis apparently no barrier, buyers are snapping up hot – well, everything small and quick: hatches, sedans and SUVs alike.

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Not many brands are cheering about it, though, which might seem ominous – and Hyundai has, after all, killed the Kona N and confirmed there won't be another i30 N hatch after this generation.

The sedan will live on, at least, along with the i20 N – and there's the big new Ioniq 5 N for those with money to burn in place of petrol.

Volkswagen is the exception, proudly trumpeting the success of its GTI and R models in 2023 – while also firing a shot at Hyundai, declaring itself "the only brand in Australia committed to both light and small segment hot hatchbacks". A niche title to claim, but a hot shot nonetheless.

For its part, Hyundai is understood to be working on a smaller Ioniq model, and an N variant would seem a sure thing. The Golf 9 GTI is also rumoured to be electric, so the 'committed to small hot hatchbacks' conversation will probably rear its head again soon.

(The chats I've had about that line were, of course, not on the record...)

Alright chatterbox, give us the numbers

Volkswagen

For 2023, Volkswagen says it sold 387 Polo GTI hatches, more than doubling the results of a supply-troubled 2022. The bigger Golf GTI, more expensive than ever before and without a manual for the diehards, also had a fairly strong year with 693 sales. The flagship Golf R turned in 346 for the year, with 309 deliveries made in the second half. Supply was still an issue for both, however, and VW believes their potential to be much higher.

We can add Cupra to the list, with 442 Leon hatches sold in 2023, along with a whopping 887 of its new Born EVs. Born slippy.

Of course, as much as Australia loves hot hatches, it loves SUVs even more – so the combination of hot-hatch power and SUV is an obvious formula for product planners. It's worked out for VW, with the Tiguan R racking up a huge 2227 sales in 2023. It'll be retired in June, so if you want one...

Lastly, the smaller T-Roc R and R Grid models did well too, with 566 sales.

Hyundai

By comparison, Hyundai had moved 624 of its little i20 N manual-only pocket rockets by the end of November, along with 1626 i30 N hatches and 1573 i30 N sedans (styled 'i30 Sedan N') for the full year.

The i30 N models can both be had in either manual or auto form, of course. And while it had no press release for these figures, Hyundai would likely note that it, too, suffered delays for its N hatches.

Hyundai N's late addition of a DCT automatic transmission to the i30 N hatch has paid dividends, with 1280 sales going to the auto and 346 to the manual. The i30 Sedan N favoured the auto even more, with 1440 sales going that way and 133 going the other.

A mean 680 Kona N SUVs were sold to the end of November, too. RIP, Kona N...

Toyota

Toyota, an only recently returned player in the hot-hatch market, sold 624 GR Corolla hatches and 163 GR Yaris hatches – and yes, you guessed it, supply has been a constant bugbear for these models. "We keep trying to get more," a spokesperson told me today.

It had 700 GR Corollas available, according to news in early 2023, but perhaps something has been lost in communication there. (It's possible some of those sales were counted in late 2022, when the initial number was first announced.)

And, for the record, Toyota sold 276 GR Supras in 2023.

Honda

As for the Civic Type R, Honda confirms it has sold "just over" 750 since launch in December 2022.

And guess what! Supply constrained, with back-of-the-line customers in May 2023 told to expect a February 2024 delivery.

Subaru

Look, it's no longer a hatch, criminal as that is, but the WRX is a traditional player in this space – and fans will be pleased to know Subaru sold 2743 of them in 2023.

Subaru tells me it was an 80/20 split in favour of the sedan which, as a wagon man, is disappointing to me – but considering the sedan's sales were split 54% to 46% in favour of the auto transmission, one feels like a manual wagon oughta be on Subaru Australia's wish list... (And a return of the STI, please.)

Hell, let's add this little detail: Subaru recorded 1573 sales of the BRZ last year, pushing it past the Mustang's 1475 registrations.

Farewell... Renault & Ford

The last time we'll see Renault in a list like this, at least for the foreseeable future. It sold 69 (nice) Megane RS hatches last year. Ford moved 140 Fiesta ST hatches from last stocks and orders, and just eight Focus ST hatches.

Sales figures, in table form!

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And the rest: Lux brands

Audi pulled in 149 RS3 and 397 S3 hatch sales last year, from a total of 3319 sales for the wider A3 range – including hatch and sedan (sedan models showed 328 RS3 and 449 S3 sales). The little SQ2 deserves a holler too, with 380 sales in 2023. Across the entire S and RS line-up, Audi notched up 4073 sales.

BMW is finalising figures for its entire M and M Performance range, but we can see it sold 1755 1 Series hatches and 1164 2 Series coupes and convertibles. Waiting on M135i and M2 numbers...

Mercedes-Benz doesn't share specific AMG model numbers, but VFACTS data shows it sold 2392 A-Class models in 2023, across hatch and sedan, and you can bet a lot of those were A35 and A45 trims.