Toyota, Ford surge in sales race

Toyota, Ford, Nissan and Kia were the big winners in a booming new car market that saw sales grow 4.6 percent in August, putting the industry on track to top 1.2 million sales for 2016.

The 94,909 cars sold in August – for a year-to-date total of 784,380 – puts the market on track to break its previous record of 1,155,408 sales set in 2015.

The Camry was one of Toyota’s standouts with 2458 sales, making it the top selling Australian-made car for the month, easily beating the Holden Commodore (1952) and Ford Falcon (441).

But the Corolla also boosted Toyota’s total with 3554 sales, enough to earn it the status of top seller for the month, ahead of the Toyota Hilux ute (3311).

Toyota also sold more SUVs than any other manufacturer off the back of a strong month for LandCruiser (1350) and Prado (1328), each of which led their segments.

Yet despite its dominance in SUVs, Toyota’s share of high riding wagons was only 32 percent – well down on the 37 percent share for the overall market on the back of a 10.6 percent gain for the month.

And the tussle for the top spot has again shaken the overall fight for the top selling car for the year.

Hyundai’s i30 – the top seller two months ago as a result of big discounts – managed just 1864 sales, enough to shake it from the overall year-to-date lead.

The Hilux is again the top selling car for the year, with 27,618, just ahead of the Corolla (27,525) and Hyundai i30 (26,937)

Mazda reasserted its stranglehold on second position in the sales race with 9258 sales for August, well ahead of Holden (7667) and Hyundai (6536).

Helping Mazda’s cause were its trio of SUVs, the popular CX-3 (1323), top selling CX-5 (1902) and all-new Mazda CX-9 (738); between them it meant 43 percent of Mazda’s volume was for SUVs.

Ford, too, had a rare month, buoyed by the Ranger (2964) and Mustang (717). Once again the Mustang was the top selling passenger car in the Ford line-up, trouncing the Focus, Kuga, Territory, Falcon and Fiesta.

Nissan also managed a big month, with SUVs accounting for the bulk of the brand’s 19 percent growth.

Kia also came home as the ninth-best-selling brand with 3710 sales, a 26 percent improvement on the previous August.

Luxury brands, too, posted some impressive figures in August.

Audi was up 5.5 percent with 2006 sales, BMW up 5.4 percent with 2321 sales and Mercedes-Benz up 11.5 percent to 3295 sales.

Lexus, too, jumped 11.4 percent with 789 sales, while Volvo had a strong month posting 671 sales for a 50 percent increase.

In terms of a percentage increase Jaguar stormed away with the prize with a 202-percent jump courtesy of the arrival of the Jaguar F-Pace, the brand’s first SUV.

The success of some came at the expense of others.

Hyundai dropped 31 percent, a product of the disappearance of its i20 hatchback and slower sales of the Elantra and i30.

Volkswagen fell 19 percent for the month, due predominantly to the changeover to its crucial new Tiguan SUVs. Stock of the previous model has dried up while dealers await the imminent arrival of the all-new model.

Holden also slipped 2.6 percent to 7667 sales, although with five new models due in the next five months – the Trailblazer (replacement for the Colorado 7), revised Trax, new Astra, new Equinox (replacement for the Captiva) and revised Barina.

Top 10 selling vehicles in August 2016

Top 10 selling brands in August 2016

Source: Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries