Australia September 2016: Corolla in YTD lead, Mazda #1 SUV brand

The Toyota Corolla is now #1 year-to-date in Australia. 

* NOW UPDATED with the Top 50 All-brands and Top 285 All-models *

The Australian new car market sees no respite in 2016: up another 1.3% year-on-year in September to an all-time high 102.696 sales, lifting the year-to-date tally up 2.8% or 24.000 sales on the previous record of 2015 to 887.076 units. However, over this shiny lid hides a not-so-happy situation: for the third consecutive month, the market is solely boosted by fleet sales up 14% to 41.543 whereas private sales are down a paltry 8% to 48.171. The shift towards SUVs (+7%) and light commercials – mainly pickup trucks (“utes”) used as SUVs (+18%) and away from passenger cars (-9%) continues. Looking at data by state, South Australia at +12% to 6.551, Northern Territory at +12% to 880, Victoria at +4% to 28.766, ACT at +2% to 1.631 and New South Wales at +1% to 34.424 post positive scores but Tasmania at -1% to 2.074, Queensland at -3% to 19.702 and Western Australia at -4% to 8.688 struggle. In September Australia bought 28.294 new cars imported from Japan, 25.654 from Thailand, 14.595 from South Korea, 7.813 from Germany, 7.659 were made in Australia, 4.364 from the USA, 3.028 from the UK, 1.572 from Spain, 1.117 from South Africa and 1.070 from Hungary.

Toyota Hilux sales are up 60% year-on-year but its 4×4 variant is outsold by the Ford Ranger.

Toyota remains in command of the Australian brands ranking with a slim 1% uptick to 16.716 sales and 16.3% share, but Mazda does a lot better at +11% to 12.009 and a strong 11.7% share – its highest since January (11.9%) – thanks to its annual ‘M Day’ sales. Hyundai (+0.1%) is back up two spots on August to the #3 rank it holds year-to-date and manages to place three nameplates inside the September Top 10 vs. just two for Toyota: the i30 at #5 (-39%), the Tucson at #9 (+303%) and the Accent at #10 (+127%). Just below, we find Holden still struggling at -8% while Ford continues its spectacular recovery at +25% to 7.280 units and 7.1% share.

The Tucson is one of 3 Hyundais in the September Top 10. Toyota and Mazda have just two. 

Mitsubishi (-3%), Nissan (-1%) and Volkswagen (-15%) follow but all struggle while Subaru (+12%), Honda (+5%), Kia (+23%) and Mercedes (+5%) all shine. Other great gainers in September include Lamborghini (+67%), LDV (+73%), Infiniti (+82%) and Jaguar (+90%) while at the other end of the stick we find Chrysler (-55%), Jeep (-57%), Ssangyong (-60%), Alfa Romeo (-67%) and Dodge (-77%): 4 out of 5 belonging to the FCA Group. Recently-launched Haval (#34) and Ram (#39) remain discreet.

The CX-5 helps make Mazda the #1 SUV brand in Australia in September. 

Looking at passenger cars only, the best-selling brands are Toyota (6.988), Hyundai (5.952), Mazda (5.467), Holden (4.234), Ford (2.670), Kia (2.393), Volkswagen (2.274), Honda (2.015), Mercedes-Benz (2.011) and Subaru (1.297). In the SUV aisle, Mazda manages the historical feat to outsell Toyota at 5.181 deliveries vs. 5.021, followed by Mitsubishi (3.768), Nissan (3.467), Hyundai (2.913), Subaru (2.753), Holden (2.242), Honda (1.768), Ford (1.435) and Kia (1.294).

The Mazda3 lodges its first Australian pole position since January.

Helped by the ‘M Day’ promotion, the Mazda3 is the best-selling nameplate in the country in September and for the first time since January with 3.491 sales. That’s only 68 more than the Toyota Corolla which celebrates its 50th anniversary  – the nameplate was launched in October 1966 – by reclaiming the year-to-date lead off the Toyota Hilux up 60% to 3.209. While the Corolla has been Australia’s best-seller for the past 3 years, an annual Hilux pole position would make it the first ever ute to achieve that feat. Only 121 units separate the two Toyota nameplates atop the YTD ranking after 9 months.

Australia is the first country in the world to get the new generation Renault Koleos. 

The Ford Ranger (+17%) sells 2.903 units but beats the Hilux in the lucrative 4×4 ute segment at 2.451 vs. 2.311 with the Mitsubishi Triton in third place at 2.012. The Hyundai i30 is back up to #5 despite sales down 39% and holds onto its third spot in the YTD ranking at 29.678 below just the Toyota Corolla (30.948) and Hilux (30.827). The Mazda CX-5 manages a brilliant 15% increase to rank 6th overall, with the Mazda CX-3 also extremely robust at +27% to #12 and the Mitsubishi ASX also posting a 27% year-on-year gain to #13. Among recent launches, notice the Renault Koleos (+260%), Honda Civic (+170%), VW Tiguan (+49%), Suzuki Baleno (243 sales) and Jaguar F-Pace (172 units).

Previous month: Australia August 2016: Toyota surges 29%, fleet and rental sales strong

One year ago: Australia September 2015: Hyundai i30 leads for 2nd time in 4 months

Full September 2016 Top 50 All-brands and Top 285 All-models below.