VFACTS May 2018: Ford Mustang outselling Holden’s ZB Commodore

THE Holden Commodore has fallen to number 23 on the list of Australia’s best-selling passenger cars in May as the brand struggles to find solid ground in the wake of its exit from Australian manufacturing.

But that number is still fluffed up by sales of remaining locally built stock. Subtract the 157 VFII Commodore sales from the mix, and Holden moved only 883 of the new, fully imported ZB model, which would have dropped it another three rungs on the bestsellers’ list.

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Year to date, Commodore sales are down more than 50 percent on the same five-month period last year at 4225, preliminary data shows. Of those, only 2204 are of the new Opel Insignia-based ZB - meaning Holden has sold fewer of its new Commodores this year than Ford has sold Mustangs (2285), though the Commodore has only been on sale since February.

Holden, meanwhile, had another month of struggles in the showroom during May, falling to number eight on the charts after managing just 5129 sales for the month. Only the Spark (123) and Barina (284) managed to build on May last year’s numbers -- by a combined 12 sales -- with the new Equinox (428) finally shuffling ahead of its replacement, the Captiva (370).

Overall, new-car sales tapped the brakes firmly in May, falling to just 100,754 for the month, a 2.1 percent contraction compared with the same month last year. It leaves the market exactly the same margin -- 2.1 percent -- ahead of the first five months of last year.

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All the heat appears to have come out of passenger cars, with sales slumping by 15.6 percent compared with May last year in contrast to sales of SUVs swelling 8.4 percent. Sales of passenger cars to mum and dad buyers alone are down 23.0 percent.

The only passenger car segment to make ground were the big-dollar Astons, BMWs, Maseratis, Jaguars, Mercedes-Benzes, Porsches and Rolls-Royces, the ones costing more than $100,000; the month’s 86 sales represented an 83.0 percent gain on May last year, and has helped to push the segment 68.2 percent ahead of where it was at the end of the first five months of last year.

Toyota (19,571 sales, down 1.5 percent) dominated the market to claim a 19.4 percent share as the perennial market giants, the Hilux trade ute (4385) and Corolla small sedan and hatch (3120) dominated the charts -- although the Corolla was easily outsold by the second-placed Ford Ranger (3674).

Mazda (9403) held a narrow lead of less than 600 sales over third-placed Hyundai (8807), with the Hyundai i30 (2779) placing second on the list of best-selling passenger cars head of the Mazda 3 (2586) and Mazda CX-5 (2382). Also helping Hyundai’s sales this month was the strongly-placed Tucson (1839) and the recently introduced Kona (1192), which is slowly building in popularity.

Mitsubishi (6916) continues to rank ahead of Ford (5738), helped by the strength of its top 10 performer for the month, the ASX (2029), and its top 20 performer, the Outlander (1275). Aside from the strongly performing Ranger, Ford’s sales relied mainly on its SUV range including the Everest (422) and Escape (349) to bolster sales -- the Mustang (267 sales) is in runout ahead of the introduction of a new model in about a month’s time. This time last year its May sales hit more than 1300.

The Mercedes-Benz X-Class had a decent month, snaring 183 sales to help push the German luxury car brand’s separately accounted vans division (803 sales) ahead of 19th-placed Lexus (812). The X-Class’s sales were almost exclusively for the 4x4 model (only a single 4x2 version was sold for the month) and enough for it to overtake the Great Wall Steed (80 sales).

In the battle of the luxury brands, Mercedes-Benz (2898) finished May slightly flatter than last year’s result, propped up by higher-riding products including the GLA-Class (385) and GLC-Cass (559). BMW (2101), meanwhile, built on last year’s performance slightly helped by a big jump in X3 sales (522). Audi (1851) was softer, though, with both the Q2 (131) and the A3 (291) tapping the brakes. Lexus (812) also increased its monthly sales as new introductions such as the LC coupe (7) and LS flagship sedan (10) built on a strong result from the NX compact SUV (383).

TOP 20 BRANDS

RANK BRAND May ‘18 May ‘17

1. Toyota 19,571 19,876
2. Mazda 9403 9903
3. Hyundai 8807 8312
4. Mitsubishi 6916 6521
5. Ford 5738 7617
6. Kia 5500 5005
7. Volkswagen 5430 5080
8. Holden 5129 6917
9. Nissan 4334 5083
10. Honda 4142 3820
11. Subaru 4019 4146
12. Mercedes-Benz 2898 3026
13. Isuzu Ute 2470 2377
14. BMW 2101 2081
15. Audi 1851 1914
16. Suzuki 1432 1626
17. Renault 1000 1091
18. Land Rover 850 704
19. Lexus 812 767
20. Jeep 728 701

TOP 20 PASSENGER CARS

RANK MODEL May ‘18 May ‘17

1. Toyota Corolla 3120 3160
2. Hyundai i30 2779 2683
3. Mazda3 2586 2594
4. Mazda CX-5 2382 2298
5. Toyota RAV4 2063 1977
6. Mitsubishi ASX 2029 1742
7. Volkswagen Golf 1951 1534
8. Kia Cerato 1843 1,735
9. Hyundai Tucson 1839 2135
10. Toyota Prado 1712 1619
11. Nissan X-Trail 1476 1992
12. Toyota Camry 1451 2233
13. Honda CR-V 1342 512
14. Mitsubishi Outlander 1275 1405
15. Mazda CX-3 1,274 1542
16. Toyota Kluger 1271 1145
17. Kia Sportage 1267 1206
18. Hyundai Accent 1251 1353
19. Subaru XV 1223 145
20. Hyundai Kona 1192 -