Australia June 2013: Toyota Hilux hits best ever volume, Corolla leads year-to-date in euphoric market

The Toyota Hilux delivers its best-ever monthly volume in Australia this month.

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Never before had Australian consumers bought that many new cars in one month, 6 months and 12 months! Yes, you read correctly, that’s 3 records beaten at the same time. June sales hit an unprecedented 118,758 units, the biggest ever month in the history of automobile in Australia, up 5.5% on June 2012 which was the previous record. The half-year tally is up 5% on 2012 to 573,711 units, the highest ever figure for any 6 month-period, while in the financial year ended last Sunday, Australians bought 1,137,889 vehicles – a new record.

The Toyota Corolla is the best-selling vehicle in Australia so far in 2013.

Toyota is the hands-down winner this year. Even though it has led the brands ranking for the last decade, it has never managed to top the year-end models charts. The wait may come to an end this year, with not one but two vehicles now on top so far in 2013. In June, the Toyota Hilux maintains itself in pole position for the 2nd month in a row and the 8th time in the last 15 months, delivering the strongest ever monthly sales figure in its 42 year-career in the country: 4,931 sales and 4.1% share. This means the Hilux passes the Mazda3 in the year-to-date ranking to place #2 at 20,721 units and 3.6%.

Hyundai delivers its best-ever month in Australia in June.

The Toyota Corolla for its part ranked #2 again this month thanks to 4,196 sales (its best monthly figure since December 2010) and 3.5% share, but continued to lead the 2013 year-to-date race at 20,970 units and 3.7%. This race is getting more intense by the minute though: last month the Corolla had a slim 369 sales advantage over the #2 at the time, the Mazda3, now it has an even meagre 249 lead over its pick-up stablemate (20,721) while the Mazda3 is still very close at #3 and 20,077 units.

Can the Nissan Pulsar soon put up a fight with the Toyota Corolla and Mazda3?

In 4th place, the Hyundai i30 delivers its 2nd best-ever volume at 3,664 sales and 3.1% (only trailing the 3,678 units its sold in March 2009), pushing Hyundai to an all-time record 9,914 sales and #3 brand behind just Toyota and Holden. The Mitsubishi Triton, although down one spot on its record #4 last month, lodges its best ever volume and share in the country at 3,456 units and 2.9%, up 58% year-on-year. The Nissan Pulsar is up 9 ranks on May to break into the Australian Top 10 for the first time for this generation at #9 with 2,323 sales and 2%. The last time the Pulsar nameplate ranked inside the Top 10 in Australia was in December 2005 and the last time it sold more than 2,000 monthly units was in December 2004…

Mitsubishi Mirage

Further down, both the Hyundai ix35 (#11 with 2,225 sales) and the Mazda CX-5 (#13 at 2,036 units) pass the 2,000-monthly unit milestone for the very first time, while the new generation Holden Commodore fails to reclaim a spot in the Top 10 (for now) at #12 with 2,144 sales, down 22% year-on-year, and the Mitsubishi Mirage misses out on the lead in its segment by only 63 units at 1,501 sales vs. 1,564 for the Toyota Yaris. Apart from Hyundai, a few additional brands broke their monthly sales figures records this month: Nissan at 9,165 sales (#7) and Audi at 1,505 (#16) while Mitsubishi claimed its best month since becoming an import-only business at 9,257 units.

Previous post: Australia: Is the end of local car manufacturing near?

Previous month: Australia May 2013: Toyota Corolla overtakes Mazda3 year-to-date

One year ago: Australia June 2012: Holden Commodore down to #8 in record market

Full June 2013 Top 20 models and Top 46 All-brands Ranking Tables below.