Australia 1992: Ford Falcon passes Commodore for 191 units!
1992 Ford EB Falcon. Picture by The Scooter Guy, all rights reserved.
* See the Top 50 best-selling models by clicking on the title! Thanks to David+Paul *
The Australian car market is back in shape in 1992, up 5% year-on-year to 542,077 registrations. 1992 will stay in history as the year the fight between the Ford Falcon and the Holden Commodore was the most intense and sales figures at year-end the closest. Helped by the return of V8 variants in its range, the Ford Falcon takes the lead for possibly the first time since 1987 in spite of a dreadful start of the year (2,114 sales vs. 3,689 for the Commodore in January). But only 191 units separate the two models at year-end! The Falcon is at 57,832 sales and 10.7% share (up 19%) while the Commodore is at 57,641 and 10.6% (up 13%)!
1992 Holden Commodore
Mitsubishi Magna
In third place the Mitsubishi Magna/Verada continues to progress, up 18% to 34,009 sales and 6.3% share while all 4 following models fall: the Toyota Camry at #4 and -7%, the Toyota Corolla at #5 and -8%, the Ford Laser at #6 and -32% and the Nissan Pulsar at #7 and -23%. Notice also the Mazda 626 up 61% to #9 and the Mitsubishi Pajero up 48% to #15.
Previous year: Australia 1991: Holden Commodore keeps pole position
Next year: Australia 1993: Ford Falcon leads at 11.7%, Mitsubishi Magna #3 at 6.8%
Full Year Top 50 and February 1992 Top 20 Ranking Tables below.
Australia 1992:
| Pos | Model | 1992 | % | /91 | 1991 | % | Pos |
| 1 | Ford Falcon | 57,832 | 10.7% | 19% | 48,430 | 9.4% | 2 |
| 2 | Holden Commodore | 57,641 | 10.6% | 13% | 50,820 | 9.9% | 1 |
| 3 | Mitsubishi Magna/Verada | 34,009 | 6.3% | 18% | 28,765 | 5.6% | 3 |
| 4 | Toyota Camry | 25,699 | 4.7% | -7% | 27,716 | 5.4% | 5 |
| 5 | Toyota Corolla | 23,825 | 4.4% | -8% | 25,968 | 5.0% | 6 |
| 6 | Ford Laser | 18,960 | 3.5% | -32% | 27,885 | 5.4% | 4 |
| 7 | Nissan Pulsar | 15,358 | 2.8% | -23% | 19,822 | 3.9% | 7 |
| 8 | Toyota Hilux | 14,697 | 2.7% | 11% | 13,190 | 2.6% | 8 |
| 9 | Mazda 626 | 10,010 | 1.8% | 61% | 6,235 | 1.2% | 18 |
| 10 | Mitsubishi Lancer | 9,605 | 1.8% | 7% | 8,985 | 1.7% | 12 |
| 11 | Toyota Land Cruiser | 9,420 | 1.7% | 4% | 9,095 | 1.8% | 11 |
| 12 | Daihatsu Charade | 9,348 | 1.7% | -1% | 9,405 | 1.8% | 10 |
| 13 | Subaru Liberty | 8,857 | 1.6% | 8% | 8,179 | 1.6% | 13 |
| 14 | Holden Rodeo | 8,749 | 1.6% | 14% | 7,698 | 1.5% | 14 |
| 15 | Mitsubishi Pajero | 8,656 | 1.6% | 48% | 5,836 | 1.1% | 21 |
| 16 | Holden Barina | 8,579 | 1.6% | 19% | 7,230 | 1.4% | 15 |
| 17 | Hyundai Excel | 8,368 | 1.5% | 16% | 7,225 | 1.4% | 16 |
| 18 | Toyota Land Cruiser Pick-up | 7,815 | 1.4% | 16% | 6,717 | 1.3% | 17 |
| 19 | Nissan Patrol | 6,640 | 1.2% | 9% | 6,095 | 1.2% | 19 |
| 20 | Mitsubishi Triton | 6,639 | 1.2% | 40% | 4,757 | 0.9% | 24 |
| 21 | Mazda 323 | 6,115 | 1.1% | 7% | 5,701 | 1.1% | 22 |
| 22 | Honda Civic | 5,960 | 1.1% | 6% | 5,622 | 1.1% | 23 |
| 23 | Mazda 121 | 5,779 | 1.1% | 28% | 4,531 | 0.9% | 28 |
| 24 | Toyota Hiace | 5,564 | 1.0% | 21% | 4,594 | 0.9% | 27 |
| 25 | Holden Apollo | 5,486 | 1.0% | -9% | 6,018 | 1.2% | 20 |
| 26 | Nissan Pintara | 5,381 | 1.0% | -53% | 11,427 | 2.2% | 9 |
| 27 | Suzuki Swift | 5,242 | 1.0% | 23% | 4,274 | 0.8% | 30 |
| 28 | Toyota Lexcen | 5,202 | 1.0% | 9% | 4,755 | 0.9% | 25 |
| 29 | Ford Festiva | 4,779 | 0.9% | 458% | 857 | 0.2% | n/a |
| 30 | Mitsubishi Express | 4,564 | 0.8% | -3% | 4,694 | 0.9% | 26 |
| 31 | Ford Fairlane/LTD | 4,441 | 0.8% | 5% | 4,221 | 0.8% | 32 |
| 32 | Holden Nova | 4,312 | 0.8% | 2% | 4,242 | 0.8% | 31 |
| 33 | Ford Telstar | 4,173 | 0.8% | 112% | 1,972 | 0.4% | 50 |
| 34 | BMW 3 Series | 3,983 | 0.7% | 19% | 3,359 | 0.7% | 38 |
| 35 | Nissan Navara | 3,619 | 0.7% | -20% | 4,498 | 0.9% | 29 |
| 36 | Toyota Tarago | 3,462 | 0.6% | 7% | 3,225 | 0.6% | 39 |
| 37 | Holden Ute | 3,384 | 0.6% | -2% | 3,443 | 0.7% | 36 |
| 38 | Ford Ute | 3,365 | 0.6% | -5% | 3,545 | 0.7% | 34 |
| 39 | Daihatsu Applause | 3,177 | 0.6% | -12% | 3,611 | 0.7% | 33 |
| 40 | Toyota 4Runner | 3,122 | 0.6% | -2% | 3,172 | 0.6% | 40 |
| 41 | Mazda B-Series | 3,010 | 0.6% | 75% | 1,723 | 0.3% | n/a |
| 42 | Subaru L-Series | 2,825 | 0.5% | -7% | 3,036 | 0.6% | 41 |
| 43 | Suzuki Vitara | 2,728 | 0.5% | 20% | 2,280 | 0.4% | 48 |
| 44 | Honda Accord | 2,625 | 0.5% | -3% | 2,705 | 0.5% | 44 |
| 45 | Holden Jackaroo | 2,516 | 0.5% | 64% | 1,533 | 0.3% | n/a |
| 46 | Holden Statesman/Caprice | 2,492 | 0.5% | 16% | 2,145 | 0.4% | 49 |
| 47 | Ford Courier | 2,446 | 0.5% | 4% | 2,347 | 0.5% | 47 |
| 48 | Toyota Cressida | 2,372 | 0.4% | -16% | 2,829 | 0.5% | 43 |
| 49 | Subaru Brumby | 2,365 | 0.4% | -2% | 2,416 | 0.5% | 45 |
| 50 | Honda Prelude | 2,363 | 0.4% | 63% | 1,448 | 0.3% | n/a |
Australia February 1992:
| Pos | Model | Feb-92 | % | 2m 1992 | Pos |
| 1 | Holden Commodore | 3,378 | 8.4% | 7,067 | 1 |
| 2 | Ford Falcon | 3,241 | 8.0% | 5,355 | 2 |
| 3 | Mitsubishi Magna | 2,030 | 5.0% | 3,641 | 3 |
| 4 | Toyota Camry | 1,884 | 4.7% | 3,279 | 4 |
| 5 | Toyota Corolla | 1,483 | 3.7% | 2,666 | 7 |
| 6 | Ford Laser | 1,346 | 3.3% | 2,776 | 5 |
| 7 | Nissan Pulsar | 1,334 | 3.3% | 2,719 | 6 |
| 8 | Daihatsu Charade | 1,047 | 2.6% | 1,722 | 8 |
| 9 | Mazda 626 | 838 | 2.1% | 1,462 | 12 |
| 10 | Hyundai Excel | 797 | 2.0% | 1,534 | 11 |
| 11 | Subaru Liberty | 766 | 1.9% | 1,598 | 9 |
| 12 | Mitsubishi Lancer | 724 | 1.8% | 1,562 | 10 |
| 13 | Nissan Pintara | 721 | 1.8% | 1,236 | 14 |
| 14 | Ford Telstar | 700 | 1.7% | 847 | 20 |
| 15 | Holden Barina | 665 | 1.6% | 1,313 | 13 |
| 16 | Mazda 323 | 523 | 1.3% | 1,020 | 16 |
| 17 | Honda Civic | 515 | 1.3% | 1,055 | 15 |
| 18 | Ford Festiva | 496 | 1.2% | 981 | 17 |
| 19 | Holden Apollo | 483 | 1.2% | 851 | 19 |
| 20 | Mazda 121 | 464 | 1.1% | 924 | 18 |
Source: Paxus, many thanks to Paul for sharing the data!
Also interesting is that out of the top 20, the top 7 are all Australian made cars. This means the Charade was the highest selling imported car at the time. Of course, you really have to combine 626 and Telstar sales together to get a real picture, then it would jump much higher up the list to be the no. 1 import. Civic looks to be doing well being in the top 20, but overall for the whole of 1992, it ended up 22nd.