Australia July 2016: Corolla back to #1, Hilux and Ranger fight

Despite sales down 4%, the Toyota Corolla is back to #1 in Australia in July.

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The Australian new vehicle market marks a pause in July with deliveries down 1% to 91.331 units, yet the year-to-date tally is still evolving at record heights, up 3% over the same period last year to 689.471. More worryingly, private sales cripple the overall market at -13% to 41.594, with the minimal fall only due to very dynamic sales for business fleets (+12% to 38.222) and rental (+35% to 5.797) while government sales are down 7% to 3.111. SUVs (37% market share) and LCVs (18.5%) continue to be the sole engines of growth, with passenger cars down from 44.9% share a year ago to 41.6%.

The Toyota Hilux is up 22% to #2… 

All Australian states/territories post year-on-year declines, albeit mostly moderate: New South Wales (Sydney) is down 0.4% to 30.219, Northern Territory (Darwin) down 0.6% to 831, Australian Capital Territory (Canberra) down 0.7% to 1.486, South Australia (Adelaide) down 0.9% to 5.210, Western Australia (Perth) down 1.3% to 8.234, Queensland (Brisbane) down 1.4% to 18.445 and Victoria (Melbourne) down 1.5% to 25.517. Only Tasmania (Hobart) posts a significant 3.9% drop to 1.389 registrations. Illustrating to “ute” sales boom (Australian slang for pickup truck), Australia’s #1 car country source in July is Thailand for the first time at 23.803 sales (+26%), bypassing traditional leader Japan at 23.359 (-11%), both ahead of South Korea at 12.782 (+16%), Australia at 6.945 (-11%), Germany at 6.598 (-10%), the U.S. at 4.139 (-9%) and the U.K. at 3.019 (+8%).

…but the Ford Ranger is threatening: up 43% to #3 in July. 

Brand-wise, Toyota goes against the grain and manages a 4% year-on-year lift to 17.465 sales and 19.1% share, well ahead of the 17.4% it commends year-to-date. Mazda (-10%), Hyundai (-11%) and Holden (-10%) follow, replicating the YTD order but all losing market share. Reversely, Ford surges 20% to 6.894 sales and 7.5% share, distancing Mitsubishi (+4%), Nissan (+7%) and Volkswagen (-15%). When only looking at passenger cars, the best-selling brands are Toyota (7.232), Hyundai (5.059), Holden (3.597), Mazda (3.227) and Volkswagen (2.796) whereas in the popular SUV aisle it’s Toyota (5.869), Mazda (4.116), Mitsubishi (2.885), Nissan (2.767) and Hyundai (2.079).

Kia is up 30% to a record #9. 

Further down, Kia stuns, posting the largest year-on-year gain in the Top 25 with deliveries up a huge 30% to 3.555 for a 3.9% market share in 9th position. To BSCB’s knowledge, this is Kia’s highest ever Australian monthly ranking. Other impressive carmakers include Isuzu Ute (+20%), Foton (+20%), Volvo (+22%), Ferrari (+42%), LDV (+56%), Bentley (+75%), Jaguar (+250%) and McLaren (+260%). At the other end of the scale, struggling manufacturers include Renault (-32%), Fiat (-35%), Chrysler (-47%), Jeep (-57%), Ssangyong (-67%), Alfa Romeo (-69%), Dodge (-76%) and Proton (-90%).

Volvo is up 22% thanks to the XC90.

After an incredible four consecutive months of Hyundai i30 reign, the Toyota Corolla reclaims the title of best-selling vehicle in Australia for the first time since last February even though it drops 4% year-on-year to 3.427 sales. The Toyota Hilux follows in 2nd place with deliveries up a solid 22% thanks to the new generation, but the Ford Ranger gains more ground at +43% despite now being “older” than the Hilux. In the more profitable 4×4 ute aisle, the Ranger even outsells the Hilux at 2.357 vs. 2.311… With stock of the current generation now clearing, the Hyundai i30 drops 3 spots on June to #4 and 19% y-o-y to 2.216 sales but retains the YTD crown for now at 25.073 (+35%) vs. 24.307 (+14%) for the Hilux and 23.971 (-5%) for the Corolla.

The Jaguar F-Pace is destined to a great career in Australia. 

The Toyota Camry is up two ranks on last month to #5, the Mazda CX-5 remains the best-selling SUV in the country at #6 overall ahead of the Toyota RAV at #8 (+18%) and the Mazda CX-3 at #9 (+36%), its highest ever ranking in Australia, also hit last April. The Hyundai Accent (+145%) continues to benefit from the discontinuation of the i20 and ranks #10, the Mazda3 halts (-47%) at #14, the Hyundai Tucson is back up to #15 and the Toyota Land Cruiser gains 55% to #19. Further down, the Honda Civic is up 222% to #24 thanks to the new generation, the Mitsubishi Pajero Sport is up 10 spots on June to #41, the Ford Mustang up 37 to #44, Toyota Fortuner up 18 to #50 and Audi Q7 up 23 to #66. For its second month in market, the Suzuki Baleno is up 168 ranks to #110 and we welcome two new nameplates in the Australian sales charts in July: the Jaguar F-Pace storming into the ranking at #152 and the Infiniti Q30/QX30 arriving at #228 with sales limited to Melbourne for now.

Previous post: Australia First Half 2016: Hyundai i30 takes charge in record market

Previous month: Australia June 2016: Hyundai i30 tops biggest month ever

One year ago: Australia July 2015: Mazda boosted above 10% share by CX-3 and CX-5

Full July 2016 Top 50 All-brands and Top 280 All-models below.