Best Selling Cars – Matt's blog

The Holden Commodore sold 94,642 units in Australia in 1998, an all-time record.

* See the Top 50 most successful nameplates in Australia by clicking on the title! *

* See the Full Year 2012 post here *

This Australian update is brought to you by APIA car insurance.

This ranking has now been updated with 2012 figures, and with a record year come a lot of nameplate records: the Mazda3 delivers its best year ever at 44,128 sales, the Toyota Hilux is up to #2 for the first time, the Nissan Navara is up to #15 most successful nameplate at 26,045 units, the Ford Focus breaks into the year-end Top 10 for the first time and also lodge best-ever annual sales, as do the Mitsubishi Triton, Ford Ranger, Mazda2, Toyota Prado and Nissan X-Trail. The Mazda CX-5, Hyundai i20 and Nissan Dualis make their first appearance in the Top 50 most popular nameplate in Australia since 1990.

The Mazda3 beat its annual sales record in 2012

The original post starts here: Now that year-end detailed models rankings for Australia are available without interruption since 1990, I can give you a summary of the most popular nameplates over the period! They are ranked by yearly volume record, with info on their record market share and position also included. No surprise on top: the Holden Commodore holds the nameplate all-time record with 94,642 units sold in 1998. It’s fair to say that this record is in safe hands: with the fragmentation of the market, last year’s leader has sold just over 44,000 units.

Ford Falcon

Note that the Commodore’s market share record is a nowadays-impossible 12.8%, reached in 1996 while the Ford Falcon, whose volume record was reached in 1995 (81,366) also hit a huge 12.7% share that year. The Toyota Corolla is the third most popular nameplate in Australia over the last 20 years with a record of 47,901 sales in 2008. The Mazda3 follows at 44,128 units in 2012, ahead of the Hyundai Excel at 44,018 sales in 1998, the Toyota Hilux at 42,956 in 2008 and the Toyota Camry at 42,522 in 1999.

Toyota Corolla in Broken Hill, Australia in April 2008

The rest of the Top 10 is composed of the Mitsubishi Magna at 41,008 sales in 1997, the Holden Astra at 34,218 units in 2005 and the Holden Cruze at 33,474 sales in 2011. Note that the above models along with the Ford Laser and Hyundai i30 are the only 12 nameplates to ever rank within the year-end Top 5 in Australia over the period.

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Previous Historical post: Australia: More detailed 1980′s Historical Data now available!

Previous post: Australia Full Year 2012: No local model on podium for first time since 1930s

Previous month: Australia December 2012: Mazda3 and Toyota Camry amaze again

See the Top 50 most successful nameplates in Australia in 1990-2012 below.

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Great Wall V-Series. For the first time in Australia a Chinese model ranks in the Top 50.

* See the Top 296 all-models and Top 50 all-brands rankings by clicking on the title! *

This Australian update is brought to you by Motoring. 

Thanks to Ford Forums, I am able to share with you an all-models ranking for Australia today. You can see the original article about the Top 20 here, so I won’t go into the detail atop the ranking again and will focus on what’s happening at the heart of the chart. Apart from the Mazda CX-5 there is only one all-new model in the Australian Top 50 this year: the Subaru XV landing directly at #35 with 9,908 sales. The next best performers are the Hyundai Veloster already topping its segment at #71, the Jeep Compass at #83 and the Toyota GT86 missing the Top 100 for less than a hundred sales at a brilliant #103 and 2,047 units.

Toyota GT86

The biggest progressions within the Top 100 include the Hyundai Elantra up 90% to #40, Jeep Grand Cherokee up 148% to #43, Hyundai Accent up 98% to #50, VW Amarok up 155% to #54, Toyota FJ Cruiser up 58% to #82, Range Rover Evoque up 985% to #93 and the Hyundai i40 up 507% to #95, the last two enjoying their first full year of sales in the country. For the first time in the history of automobile in Australia, there is a Chinese model in the Top 50: the Great Wall V-Series ute (Australian for pick-up truck) is up 35% and 7 spots to land at #49 with 7,490 sales and 0.7%, while the Great Wall X-Series SUV is up 13% to #75.

VW Scirocco

Further down the ranking, notice the Toyota Prius C landing at #107, the Nissan Almera at #147, VW Scirocco up 448% to #155 for its first full year in market, VW Up! arriving at #170, Opel Astra at #184, Peugeot 208 at #190, Holden Colorado 7 at #215, Opel Insignia at #234, Holden Volt at #248, Citroen C4 Aircross at #253, Opel Corsa at #258, Infiniti FX at #261, Citroen DS5 at #269, Infiniti M at #276 and Infiniti G at #281. Finally, McLaren sells 23 units of its MP4-12C in its first year…

Mercedes SL-Class

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It was a relatively good year for prestige cars in Australia: the Mercedes C-Class is up 19% to #39 and the only prestige model to rank within the Top 50 once again this year, the BMW 3 Series is up 3% at #62, the BMW 1 Series up 15% to #77, Audi Q5 up 1% to #84, BMW X5 stable at #85, Audi A4 down 12% to #86, Mercedes M-Class up 31% to #87, BMW X3 up 19% to #92 and Lexus IS down 22% to #95. Notice also the BMW X6 up 21% to #180, BMW 6 Series up 200% to #204 and Mercedes SL-Class up 114% to #257.

December post: Australia December 2012: Mazda3 and Toyota Camry amaze again

Full Year 2012 Top 296 All-models and Top 50 All-brands Ranking Tables below.

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Mazda3. Picture courtesy of caradvice.com.au

* NOW UPDATED with the Top 296 All-models & Top 50 All-brands! Click on title to see! *

Australia could well be the only mature car market in the world to actually break its all-time record in 2012: sales are up a fantastic 10% on 2011 to reach the unheard of level of 1,112,032 registrations, beating the 2007 record of 1,049,982 units. After putting an end to 15 consecutive years of Holden Commodore domination in 2011, the Mazda3 manages to keep its crown in 2012 thanks to sales up 7% to 44,128 units and 4% share, making Australia the only country in the world where the Mazda3 is #1. All-in-all, the Mazda3 led the monthly ranking 5 times and beat its monthly volume record twice in 2012: in September (4,276 units) and December (4,649).

Toyota Hilux

It wasn’t an easy win however, with another very serious contender pointing its robust bonnet in 2012: the Toyota Hilux managed the incredible feat of ranking #1 for 5 consecutive months – the only model to do so in the last 35 years with the Holden Commodore and Ford Falcon, and a total of 6 times. It is up 13% on 2011 to #2 with 40,646 units and 3.7%, its very first time in the year-end Australian Top 2 in the 41 years the nameplate has been present in the country, and the 4WD variant’s best-ever year at 29,267 sales (+23%). You can check out Hilux Australian sales for each year since its introduction in the country in 1971 here.

Toyota Corolla

The Toyota Corolla is up one spot and 8% to #3, it ranked #1 in November thanks to the new model and is getting ready for a potentially winning year in 2013. However the big – albeit negative – news of 2012 is the 25% drop outisde the podium of the Holden Commodore at #4 with 30,532 sales and 2.7%. Holden’s legendary nameplate fell to a worrying #8 spot in June, did not top the monthly ranking at anytime for the first time since its original launch in 1978 and even lost its local model crown to the Toyota Camry over the last 3 months of the year. With the Commodore at #4, there is no locally produced model on the podium for the first time since before World War 2, and potentially even longer…

Mazda CX-5

The Holden Cruze passed the Commodore for the first time in a monthly ranking in January but remains #5 at year-end with 29,161 units, down 14% and threatened by a Hyundai i30 boosted by the new generation at #6 with 28,348 sales. The Toyota Camry is up a huge 42% to #7 and should be a contender for the #1 spot in 2013, the Nissan Navara is up 20% but down one spot, the Toyota Yaris up 16% to #9 and the Ford Focus up 9 ranks and 44% to an excellent 10th place.

The Nissan X-Trail had a record year in Australia

The Toyota Prado leads the SUV charge, up a fantastic 57% to deliver its best-ever year in the country at 17,045 sales and #15. It is followed by the Nissan X-Trail up 33% to a record #16 with 16,066 units – breaking into the Top 10 for the first time in March. However the most impressive model in the category is the all-new Mazda CX-5 launched in March and an instant hit, finishing the year at #17 with 15,861 sales and breaking into the monthly Top 10 for the first time in August.

Infiniti launched in Australia in October 2012.

Brand-wise, Toyota celebrates 10 consecutive years on top with sales up 20% to 218,176 units, and even though Holden is still #2 at 10.3% share, it got passed by Mazda for the first time in a monthly ranking this year, not once but 3 times (in April, September and December). The Japanese manufacturer lodges its best-ever year in the country and first time above 100,000 annual units at 103,886, up 18%. Hyundai is now above Ford at #4 and 91,536 sales (+5%) while Nissan and Volkswagen also break their all-time record at 79,747 and 54,835 units respectively. Notice also Jeep up 108% to #15, Great Wall up 27% to #17 and Land Rover up 36%. Two large brands launched in Oz in 2012: Opel lands at #36 with 541 sales and Infiniti is #41 with a timid 85 units sold.

Previous post: Australia December 2012: Mazda3 and Toyota Camry amaze again

Previous year: Australia Full Year 2011: Mazda3 breaks 15 years of Holden Commodore domination

Full Year 2012 Top 296 All-models, Top 50 All-brands and each Monthly Top 20 models Ranking Tables below.

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Toyota Camry

* See the Top 25 best-selling models and Top 50 brands by clicking on the title! *

* See the Full Year 2012 post here *

Australian new car sales finish the year on a high: up a massive 16% year-on-year to 95,427 registrations, bringing the Full Year total to a record 1,112,032 sales, up a full 10% on 2011. Topping off an already amazing year, the Mazda3 delivers its highest ever monthly volume in the country in December at 4,649 sales, beating the 4,276 units it sold last September, and 4.9% market share, its second best after the 5.3% it hit last January. The Mazda3 is therefore Australia’s favourite car for the second year running, with sales up 7% to 44,128 units and 4% share.

Nissan Navara

The other great performer this month is without a doubt the Toyota Camry, still boosted by Toyota’s 0% financing offer and up one spot on November to #2 with 3,586 sales and 3.8%. 1,143 or 32% of these are the Hybrid version, more than the Ford Falcon this month… This is the Camry’s best Australian ranking and monthly volume since December 2005 when it was #2 with 3,822 units, and its highest market share since October 2006 (4%). Most remarkably, the Camry is a huge 1,388 units above the Holden Commodore this month and remains the country’s best-selling locally produced model for the third time in a row and only the 4th time ever after January 1995!

For the third month in a row and ever (!), Toyota places 3 models in the Top 4 with the Corolla at #3 with 3.7% share and the Hilux at #4 with 3.3%. The Nissan Navara is up 3 spots on November to reach a best-ever 5th place with 2,691 sales and a record 2.8% share, ahead of the Hyundai i30 back up 5 ranks to #6. The Holden Commodore falls to new lows: down to #7 with 2.3%, its lowest ever monthly share in Australia… Brand-wise, Mazda passes Holden for the third time this year (and ever) with an impressive 10% market share in December.

Full Year post: Australia Full Year 2012: Mazda3 leads again, no local model on the podium for the first time since 1930s

Previous post: Australia: My forecast for 2013

Previous month: Australia November 2012: New gen pushes Toyota Corolla up to #1

One year ago: Australia Full Year 2011: Mazda3 breaks 15 years of Holden Commodore domination

Full December 2012 Top 25 models and Top 50 All-brands Ranking Tables below.

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I predict the Toyota Corolla will be the best-selling car in Australia in 2013.

* See my forecast for the Top 10 best-selling models by clicking on the title! *

This forecast is brought to you by Platinum Direct Car Allowance

Given I live in the country and can track very closely the evolution of the new car market here, I thought I would give you my forecast for the Top 10 best-sellers in Australia in 2013. Firstly I anticipate the market to continue on its trend upwards, but less so than in 2012 with a 5% gain to a record 1.16 million registrations. As November 2012 figures have started to show, Toyota has got it right with its new gen Corolla and I forecast 2013 to (finally) be the year of the Toyota Corolla. I see the Japanese superstar model’s sales go up 17% next year to 46,000 units and 4.2% share. This should be enough to snap the pole position away from the Mazda3, which I see coming down to #2 but with sales still up 5% at 45,000 and 4.1% thanks to a new model coming in halfway through the year.

Hyundai i30

Toyota Australia Executive Director of Sales & Marketing Matthew Callachor told me at the Sydney Motor Show last October that production constraints would prevent the Toyota Hilux to finish 2012 at #1. This will most likely turn out to be true, and I see the Hilux benefitting from an increased Thailand supply and gain 7% in 2013 to rank #3 with 43,500 units and 3.9% share. The new generation Hyundai i30 launched in Australia whereas the previous gen wasn’t even ‘tired’ yet and as a consequence I predict the model will have a solid year in 2013, up 6% and 2 spots to #4 with 30,000 sales.

Ford Ranger

Holden will launch a new Commodore in 2013 which is always a very significant event for the Australian motor industry. In 2012, the Commodore has dropped by a worrying 24% to #4 so far and I think the new model will slow down its fall to around -10%. This means it may drop to #6 below the Toyota Camry which would become the country’s best-selling locally produced model at year-end for the first time in history. However the race will be very tight between these 2 models and the Holden Cruze so it could be anyone’s game really. Finally I see the Ford Ranger build on a great end of 2012 to go up by 30% to #8 and 2nd best-selling ute behind the Hilux.

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Previous post: Australia November 2012: Now with Top 20 best-selling brands

November post: Australia November 2012: New generation pushes Toyota Corolla to #1

Check out also: Australia: Could 2013 be the year of the Toyota Corolla?

Full Year 2013 Top 10 Ranking Table Forecast below.

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Mazda could sell more cars in Australia than in Japan in 2013!

* See the Top 25 best-selling brands by clicking on the title! *

This Australian update is brought to you by K-Mart Tyre and Auto Service.

The Australian new car market is evolving at record heights in 2012, passing the million units mark after just 11 months for the first time in history, so I thought I’d give you a quick update on the most poplar car brands in the country. As it has been the case for the last 10 years, Toyota is by far the favourite with nearly double the sales of the #2 at 19,312 units and 19.6% in November (+11%) and 197,007 and 19.4% year-to-date (+19%). Holden is #2 with 10,354 sales and 10.5%, up 6% but down 9% year-to-date at 105,938 units and 10.4%.

Hyundai could aim at a podium spot in Australia in 2013…

Mazda takes the third spot both in November with 8,732 sales and 8.9% and year-to-date at 94,332 units and 9.3%, up a brilliant 16% on 2011. Note last September Mazda was the first ever full-line importer to sell upwards of 10,000 monthly units in Australia. For comparison, Mazda sold 10,632 cars for a 4.4% market share at home in Japan in November! In the year-to-date ranking, Hyundai is up 5% to #4 while Ford is down 2% to #5.

Jeep sales are up a huge 114% in Australia so far in 2012…

Other great performers in November include Nissan up 20% to #6, Volkswagen up 14% to #8, Honda up 79% to #9, Subaru up 34% to #10, Jeep up 72% to #14 and Renault up 41% to #21. Year-to-date, it’s virtually the same culprits: Nissan is up 17%, Volkswagen up 22%, Honda up 15%, Subaru up 17%, Kia up 25%, Jeep up 114%, Great Wall up 28%, Land Rover up 36% and Renault up 38%. The Jeep progression is particularly interesting as hailed by Fiat Chrysler Australia’s head of corporate affairs Lenore Fletcher as the result of a switch from retail-led to brand advertising – with a focus on the emotion and heritage behind the brand. The ‘Don’t hold back’ campaign (see video above) does not feature any Jeep vehicle but focuses on the brand’s ‘spirit’ instead…

Previous post: Australia November 2012: New gen pushes Toyota Corolla to #1, Camry ahead of Commodore again

Check out also: Australia: Could 2013 be the year of the Toyota Corolla?

Previous month: Australia October 2012: Toyota Camry #1 locally built model

Full November 2012 Top 25 brands Ranking table below.

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Toyota Corolla

* NOW UPDATED with the Top 25 best-selling models! Click on title to see *

This Australian update is brought to you by the free MyNextCar app.

Australia continues to lodge outstanding numbers month after month, with November breaking the all-time record for the month at 98,347 registrations, which means the Australian new car market is above the 1 million mark after just 11 months for the first time in history at 1,016,605. However Australian website Drive notes that “official figures count a car as sold when it is registered, not when it is driven away by a customer, meaning dealers can register cars as demonstrators in order to reach official sales targets and collect factory bonuses. One senior industry said that practice could be inflating the market by as many as 250,000 cars” per year…

Looks like the Mazda3 will be the best-selling car in Australia again in 2012…

Toyota dominates the ranking again, placing 3 models in the Top 4 for the 2nd month in a row and only the 2nd time ever! Now that the new generation is widely available, the Toyota Corolla is back in pole position for the first time since December 2011, lodging its highest monthly volume since December 2010 at 4,190 sales (80% of which are the new gen) and its strongest market share since January 2012 at 4.3%. With this #1 spot, the Corolla is the only nameplate in Australia to have ranked #1 at least once each of the last 8 years as the Holden Commodore was last #1 in July 2011. It is the 19th time the Corolla tops the monthly Australian ranking, the first time being in September 2005. Check out my article on Australia 2013: Could this be the year of the Corolla? to get the model’s annual sales for each year since its introduction in the country in 1967.

Toyota Camry

The Mazda3 is very solid at #2 with 3,703 units and 3.8%, and is now nearly assured to grab the title of Australia’s best-selling car for the second time in a row by the end of the year with year-to-date sales adding up to 39,479 units and 3.9% vs. 37,526 and 3.7% for the Toyota Hilux, down to #4 in November. The other massive achievement from Toyota this month is the third place of the Toyota Camry with 3,145 sales and 3.2%, meaning it is the best-selling locally produced model above the Holden Commodore for the 2nd month in a row and only the third time ever after January 1995 and October 2012…

Ford Ranger

Utes (Australian for pick-up trucks) are slowly but surely invading the Top 10: below the Hilux which managed the incredible feat of ranking #1 for 6 of the last 8 months, the Ford Ranger is up to a best-ever #6 at 2,187 units and 2.2%, the Nissan Navara is up 2 to #8 and the Holden Colorado breaks into the Top 10 for only the second time ever after October 2008 at #9 with 1,956 sales and 2%.

Finally, notice the Ford Focus back in the Top 10 for the 4th time in the last 12 months at #10 with 1,920 units and 2%, the Hyundai i30 down to #11, the Hyundai i20 leading the light car segment thanks to 1,814 units sold and a record #12 spot, the Mazda CX-5 back to the SUV pole position at #13 with 1,637 sales and 1.7% and the Honda Civic up 5 to #15. The Ford Territory outsells the Ford Falcon again at 1,296 units vs. 1.206.

Previous post: Australia: Could 2013 be the year of the Corolla?

Previous month: Australia October 2012: Toyota Camry #1 locally built model

One year ago: Australia November 2011: Ford Territory at best in 5 years

Full November 2012 Top 20 Ranking Table: Click on ‘Read more’ below.

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The 2013 model is not responsible for the Outlander’s record October…

* See the evolution of Mitsubishi Outlander’s sales in Australia by clicking on the title! *

Today Caitlin Beale, Manager of Corporate Communications at Mitsubishi Australia, kindly confirmed to me that the Mitsubishi Outlander did deliver its strongest ranking, sales volume and market share by far in October in Australia at #13 with 1,653 sales and 1.6%. But more interestingly, Caitlin also confirmed that this score was solely delivered by the previous generation’s runout program, with the new gen Outlander not going on sale before last Sunday 18 November.

…the runout program on the previous generation is.

This is particularly remarkable as runout programs typically deliver strong results but very rarely record ones, and this month the Outlander smashed 10 years of regularly solid performances in the country… In fact, October is only the second time it ever sells over 1,000 monthly units, its previous best being 1,018 in June 2010 (improved by 50%). Previous best market share was 1% (+60%) and ranking was #31 (more than halved). You can follow the evolution of the Outlander’s career since 2003 in Australia below the jump and check out Mitsubishi’s 4WD range.

Mitsubishi Mirage on the Oodnadatta track, South Australia June 2003. (Yes I drove it there!)

2013 Mitsubishi Mirage

Another nameplate about to be revived by Mitsubishi in Australia is the Mirage, on sale here in January 2013. The last generation Mirage was launched in 1995, peaked at #17 with 9,441 sales and 1.3% in 1997, although it reached a higher volume but lower ranking and share in 1998 at 9,554, and last appeared in the Australian Top 50 best-sellers in 2003 at #34 with 6,661 sales.

Note the Mitsubishi links in this post are sponsored.

Previous Australian post: Australia: Could 2013 be the year of the Corolla?

Previous month: Australia October 2012: Toyota Camry #1 locally-built model for the 2nd time ever

You can follow the evolution of the Outlander sales in Australia since 2003 below.

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Good old me in front of Parliament House in Canberra, Australia November 2012.

* See each year of Toyota Corolla sales in Australia since 1967 by clicking on the title! *

Last weekend I had the opportunity to be one of the first people to be able to rent the all-new Toyota Corolla hatch in Australia (and probably the world yay!) through rental company ‘No birds’ in Sydney. I drove 700 km to the country’s capital Canberra and back, being the very first person to drive that very model – only 13 km on the odometer at the start of my trip and a nonchalant ‘no need to do the inspection as this is a brand new car’ from the rental guy…

The Toyota Corolla hit its record market share in Australia in 1986 at 5.3%

One month ago at the Sydney Motor Show just before the new Corolla went on sale across the country, Matthew Callahor told me: “We’re trying to get everything we can get (in volume terms) for 2013, we haven’t got a clear forecast in terms of production yet but given the level of interest we’ve seen even before launching the car here, I think we’ll be very well placed in 2013.” And I can confirm the curiosity from people along my roadtrip was unlike any other new model in that category. Most punters in Australia want the Corolla to succeed and are pleasantly surprised with the new design. Given the Mazda3 will be in a transition year with the new generation due to launch next year, the Corolla will have a full year of sales to better its highest ranking in the country: #2 from 2006 to 2010.

Good old me in Canberra with my rental new Toyota Corolla hatch. Thanks to Adrian for the pic.

And this week the Toyota Australia team was kind enough to share with me exclusive sales figures for the new Corolla hatch since launch on October 22. You won’t find these figures anywhere else! So thanks to Matthew, Mike and Elise for all your support. In October the new Corolla hatch sold 591 units vs. 1,528 for the old gen hatch and 858 for the sedan. In November (up to 13/11) the all-new hatch sold 654 units so far vs. 210 for the old gen hatch, so the relay has now well and truly been passed.

1970 Toyota Corolla

The Toyota Corolla was originally introduced in Australia in 1967, just one year after its official presentation in Japan. Over this period, more than 1.2 million Corollas found a home in Australia and thanks to the Toyota Australia team I can now share with you exclusive Australian Corolla sales figures for each year since 1967! The milestones over the period are the following: in 1971 the Corolla sold over 10,000 annual units in the country for the first time, in 1975 the 20,000 annual sales were passed, in 1986 the Corolla hit what remains to this day its strongest annual market share at 5.3%, in 1990 it passes the 30,000 yearly units and in 1991 it lodges its 2nd ever 5%+ market share at 5.1%.

Most recent Australian post: Australia October 2012: Toyota Camry #1 locally built model

Previous month: Australia September 2012: Mazda3 and Hyundai i30 at record heights

One year ago: Australia October 2011: VW Golf on podium!

See the entire article and all annual Toyota Corolla volumes since 1967 below.

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Toyota Camry 

* NOW UPDATED with the Top 25 best-selling models and Top 50 All-brands ranking *

The Australian new car market is on fire again in October: up 12% year-on-year to 95,584 registrations, bringing the year-to-date total to 918,258 units, up 10% on 2011 and now almost certain to beat the all-time Full Year record of 1,049,982 sales set in 2007. Toyota has a stellar month, placing 3 models in the Australian monthly Top 4 for potentially the first time ever and monopolising the Top 2 for the first time since October 2011. Passed by the Mazda3 last month, the Toyota Hilux is back in pole position in October and for the 6th time in the last 7 months with 3,403 sales and 3.6%. However its advantage over the 3 (61 units) is not large enough to get the Hilux much closer to the #1 spot year-to-date at 34,467 sales and 3.8% vs. 35,776 and 3.9% for the Mazda 3, down to #3 in October.

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The big event this month is the second place of the Toyota Camry with 3,379 sales and 3.5%, making it the best-selling locally produced model for only the second time in history after January 1995. The Camry has benefitted from the “Local Pride” campaign where Toyota encouraged people to buy Australian-built cars by offering 0% finance. It beats the Holden Commodore (#6 at 2,449 units) and the Holden Cruze (#8 with 2,251 sales). This is also the Camry’s best Australian ranking overall and monthly volume since December 2005 when it ranked #2 with 3,822 units and 5% share, and its highest market share since December 2010 (3.7%).

Holden Colorado. Picture by The Motor Report

The Toyota Corolla experiences a transition month, with the new generation of the model launched on October 22, and ranks #4 with 3.1% share, followed by the Hyundai i30 down 2 spots on last month to #5 at a still respectable 3% of the market. The VW Golf is up 5 ranks to a fantastic 7th place with 2,436 sales and 2.5%. It’s the Golf’s second incursion in the Aussie Top 10 this year after June (#7) and its 6th ever after May 2011 (#7), June 2011 (#4), September 2011 (#10) and October 2011 (#3).

VW Up!

The Ford Ranger (#9) is the brand’s best-seller again ahead of the Focus, while the Holden Colorado is up 3 spots to #11 with 2,082 sales and 2.2%, simply its best score ever! Further down, the Mitsubishi Outlander enjoys a very successful runout month, up to #13 with 1,523 sales and 1.6% vs. #43 and 0.7% year-to-date, and leading the SUV segment. The Toyota GT86 is up 182% on September to 335 sales while the VW Up! sells 306 units for its second month of presence in the Australian market, already outselling the VW Polo…

Lamborghini Aventador 

Brand-wise, Toyota is still head and shoulders above the competition with 19.4% share, Holden is back to #2 at 10.7% while Ford is back on the podium at 8.8% share with sales up 21% year-on-year. Mazda is down to #4 at 8.1% followed by Hyundai at 7.9% while Nissan excels at +22% in 6th place. Volkswagen passes Mitsubishi again at #7, Kia is up 65%, Jeep up 144% and BMW up 43%. Opel ranks #30 for its 2nd month of presence in the country with 105 sales (69 Astras, 25 Insignias and 11 Corsas) while Infiniti is #38 at 13 units. Prestige brands impress: Lamborghini is up 700%, Bentley up 300% and Ferrari up 33%!

Previous post: Australia 9 months 2012: Now with Top 293 All-models ranking!

Previous month: Australia September 2012: Mazda3 and Hyundai i30 at record heights

One year ago: Australia October 2011: VW Golf on podium!

Full October 2012 Top 25 models and Top 50 brands Ranking Tables below.

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