Australia April 2013: Toyota Corolla #1, threatens Mazda3 YTD

Toyota Corolla

* See the Top 25 best-selling models and Top 44 All-brands by clicking on the title! *

New car sales in Australia continue on their record run, up a further 8% year-on-year in April to 85,117 registrations, which brings the year-to-date total to a 356,765 units, up 5% on 2012 which was already a record year. Very promising indeed. Thanks to sales up 36% year-on-year to 3,504 and 4.1% share, the Toyota Corolla takes the lead in April and for only the 2nd time in the last 12 months with last November. Its 662 units advantage over the Mazda3 (down to #3) means that even though the Mazda was #1 for the first 3 months of the year, it is now only 217 units above the Corolla year-to-date at 13,351 vs. 13.134…

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Ford Ranger

Could the Corolla top the Australian models ranking for the first time by year-end, thus verifying my Australian forecast for 2013? It will all depend on how Mazda handles the transition to the new generation 3 due to go on sale here in the 2nd half of 2013. By ranking #1 this month, the Corolla becomes the only nameplate in Australia to have ranked #1 at least once each of the last 9 years as the Holden Commodore was last #1 in July 2011. It is the 20th time the Corolla tops the monthly Australian ranking, the first time being in September 2005. See also Australia: Could 2013 be the year of the Toyota Corolla? featuring annual sales figures for the Corolla since its introduction in the country in 1967.

Toyota RAV4

Toyota manages a 1-2 this month, placing the Hilux at #2 with 2,932 sales and 3.4%, while the Holden Cruze is back up two spots to #4, passing the Hyundai i30 in the process. A few other models generate very impressive year-on-year growth this month: the Nissan Navara is up 23% to #6, the Ford Ranger up 37% to #7 (and kicking the Holden Commodore down to #10 year-to-date), Ford Focus up 51% to #8, Mitsubishi Lancer up 62% to #13, VW Golf up 95% to #14 and the new gen Toyota RAV4 is up 41% to #15. Finally notice the Ford Falcon down to a lowest-ever 717 sales this month. Brand-wise, Holden is back up from #5 in March to #2 in April.

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Previous month: Australia March 2013: Hyundai outsells Holden for the first time!

One year ago: Australia April 2012: Mazda passes Holden, Toyota Hilux leads

Full April 2013 Top 25 models and Top 44 All-brands Ranking Tables below.