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Australia December 2017: Holden up 57.7%, Astra & Colorado hit records

The Holden Astra breaks a 16 year-old ranking record this month.

* NOW UPDATED with the Top 50 All-brands and Top 280 All-models – see title *

The November 2017 post has also been updated with Top 50 All-brands and Top 285 All-models

New vehicle sales in Australia are up 4.1% year-on-year to 102.820 units, leading to another annual record as we will report in a separate update. Australian December data is always heavily swayed by end-of-year manipulations by some manufacturers eager to meet annual targets, such as extensive demo sales or stock sales of cars that then appear in the second hand market early in the new year. This unmistakably leads to freak events: over the past couple of years, Toyota distinguished itself by placing the Camry at a very unusual #1. This time Holden stands out just as it ended local production a few months back, with deliveries up 57.7% year-on-year to 11.8% share. This is the first time Holden holds more than 10% of the Australian market since January 2015 (10.2%) and it hits its highest share since December 2011 (12.4%). In the remainder of the brands ranking, Peugeot (+236%), LDV (+117.2%), Mitsubishi (+33.6%), Land Rover (+25.4%), Kia (+20.9%), Honda (+19.2%), Lexus (+14.6%), Isuzu Ute (+12.7%) and Volkswagen (+12.5%) also shine.

The Holden Colorado hits record ranking, volume and share this month.

The models ranking bears the marks of Holden’s artificial year-end push: below the Toyota Hilux (-3%) posting its eighth monthly win of the year, the Holden Astra shoots up 23-fold on December 2016 to an incredible – because artificial – 2nd place at 3.533 sales and 3.4% share. Last month the Astra reappeared in the Australian Top 20 for the first time in 9 years (since February 2009) and this month it simply beats the nameplate’s 16 year-old ranking record and 12 year-old monthly volume records. The Astra’s previous bests were #3 (first reached in 2001, last in February 2005) and 3.359 sales (August 2005). This is the Astra’s first Top 10 since July 2008 (#8), first Top 5 since October 2005 (#5) and best market share since October 2005 (3.9%). The Astra’s highest annual ranking in Australia so far is #4 in 2001, at a time when the Holden Commodore and Ford Falcon obliterated the sales charts.

Holden has another record on its hands with the Colorado ute: up 166% year-on-year to #4 with 3.222 sales and 3.1% share, these are all new records for ranking (previous best: #8 in April 2017), volume (pb: 2.411 in June 2017) and share (pb 2.2% in April 2017). This year, the Colorado breaks its annual volume record (21.579), share record (1.8%) and equals its annual ranking record (#11, also hit in 2015). In other news, the Colorado makes it three utes (local slang for pickup trucks) in the Top 4 with the Mitsubishi Triton up 26% to #6 making it four in the Top 6. The Mitsubishi ASX is up 43% to remain at #9, the Honda Civic is up 64% to #15, Toyota Prado up 33% to #16, Mitsubishi Outlander up 32% to #17, Nissan Navara up 50% to #18 but the Hyundai i30 implodes down 48% to #19.

Previous month: Australia November 2017: All-time high November = annual record likely

Full December 2017 Top 50 All-brands and Top 280 All-models rankings below.

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