Australia 1990: Holden Commodore #1, Toyota leads in October

Holden Commodore

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New car sales in Australia are up 2% year-on-year in 1990 to 617,298 registrations. Below Ford, #1 manufacturer for the 9th year in a row but with its lowest share since 1982 at 22.7%, Toyota breaks two records in 1990: annual volume (128.785) and market share (20.9%), even topping the overall brand sales charts for the first time in in October at 12.983 sales and 23.8% share vs. 10.889 and 19.9% for Ford. This marks the first time a Japanese manufacturer ever ranks #1 overall in Australia. Holden follows at a distance at 17.4% while Nissan overtakes Mitsubishi for 4th place overall. In the Top 10, Mazda (+19%), Subaru (+34%), Suzuki (+36%) and Daihatsu (+48%) impress while Hyundai is down one spot to #11 with sales up 4% to 7.222.

Ford Falcon

The Holden Commodore manages to keep the models pole position despite sales down 9% but the fight intensifies with the Ford Falcon (-8%): if in 1989 the Commodore finished #1 10 times out of 12 and wasn’t interrupted from March to December, in 1990 the race becomes a little more balanced with the Falcon surging to #1 in February, March, September and December. The Ford Laser gains one spot to land on the third step of the podium, overtaking the Mitsubishi Magna. The Toyota Camry (-2%) remains 5th but lodges an outstanding October figure at #3 with 3.705 sales, for the first time at throwing distance from the Falcon (4.244) and Commodore (4.992) and helping Toyota snap the top spot that month.

Ford Laser

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Full Year 1990 Top 20 models and brands Ranking Tables below.