Australia 1988-1989: The start of the real ‘Falcadore’ era
1988 Holden Commodore VN
* See the Top 20 best-selling models by clicking on the title! Many thanks to Paul *
With the arrival of the VN Series of the Holden Commodore in 1988, both Ford Falcon and Holden Commodore now compete in the same segment, and it is the start of over two decades of intense fight between the two models for the title of best-selling car in Australia, commonly known as the ‘Falcadore’ era…
1989 Ford EA Falcon
It looks like the Holden Commodore was the #1 model in the country in 1988, and thanks to Paul I can share with you a Top 20 best-selling models for the first 6 months of 1989 which shows the Commodore leading with 30,750 sales vs. 28,793 for the Falcon. The Mitsubishi Magna takes the third spot at 18,226 units, followed by the Ford Laser at 15,620, the Toyota Camry at 15,511 and the Toyota Corolla at 9,109. Notice the Hyundai Excel at #15…
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Full 6 months and June 1989 Top 20 Ranking Tables below.
Australia 6 months 1989:
| Pos | Model | 6m 1989 | Jun-89 | Pos |
| 1 | Holden Commodore | 30,750 | 6,779 | 1 |
| 2 | Ford Falcon | 28,793 | 5,670 | 2 |
| 3 | Mitsubishi Magna | 18,226 | 3,651 | 3 |
| 4 | Ford Laser | 15,620 | 3,022 | 5 |
| 5 | Toyota Camry | 15,511 | 3,067 | 4 |
| 6 | Toyota Corolla | 9,109 | 1,426 | 6 |
| 7 | Nissan Pulsar | 7,464 | 1,331 | 7 |
| 8 | Nissan Skyline | 6,171 | 978 | 11 |
| 9 | Ford Telstar | 6,119 | 1,117 | 8 |
| 10 | Holden Astra | 5,715 | 1,110 | 9 |
| 11 | Nissan Pintara | 5,541 | 1,026 | 10 |
| 12 | Ford Fairlane | 4,061 | 807 | 12 |
| 13 | Mazda 626 | 3,853 | 692 | 13 |
| 14 | Mitsubishi Colt | 3,679 | 559 | 14 |
| 15 | Hyundai Excel | 3,359 | 434 | 18 |
| 16 | Daihatsu Charade | 2,892 | 429 | 19 |
| 17 | Honda Civic | 2,871 | 472 | 15 |
| 18 | Honda Prelude | 2,517 | 429 | 20 |
| 19 | Subaru | 2,371 | 442 | 16 |
| 20 | Toyota Cressida | 2,335 | 440 | 17 |
215,180 VN Commodores were produced between August 1988 and October 1991, whereas 223,612 BA Falcons were produced during the same period, while 72,571 units of the ED Falcon were produced between August 1993 and August 1994,
Source: Car Australia, Paxus, VFACTS, Wikipedia, Wheels Magazine. Many thanks to Paul for sharing the 1989 data!
