Australia First Quarter 2014: Now with Top 300 All-models ranking

The BMW 2 Series is the most successful all-new model in Australia in 2014 so far.

* See the Top 300 All-models and Top 35 brands by clicking on the title! *

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As is the tradition on BSCB I now share with you detailed Quarterly results for Australia. Overall the market is down slightly at -2% to 266,370 registrations, and it has been a sadly historical 12 months for the Australian car industry with Ford, Holden and Toyota successively announcing they were pulling out of manufacturing locally. In the models ranking, compared to Q4 2013, the Mazda3 reclaims the top spot off the Toyota Corolla for now thanks to the new model launched in January, while the Holden Commodore remains #4 but gains 62% year-on-year due to the new generation. The Ford Ranger becomes the 2nd most popular pick-up in the country at #6 below just the Hilux thanks to sales up 19% in a difficult context for commercial vehicles which saw the Nissan Navara tumble down 43% to #17 and the Mitsubishi Triton down 26% to #16.

The Jeep Cherokee is now among Australia’s Top 15 favourite vehicles.

The big underlying trend in this start of 2014 in Australia is the ever-increasing success of small SUVs. The Mazda CX-5 is up a further 16% year-on-year and gains 4 spots on both Q1’13 and Q4’13 to hit a best-ever 7th place with 5,537 sales, the Toyota RAV4 is up 50% to break into the year-to-date ranking for the first time at #9 with 4,906 units and the Jeep Grand Cherokee continues its unbelievable odyssey: up 45% to #15 with 4,117 sales and 1.5%, by far the best scores ever delivered by a Jeep model and the first time the US manufacturer manages to place a vehicle among Australia’s Top 15 favourites. It ranked #33 one year ago and #27 over FY2013….

Australian VW Amarok sales are up 63% so far in 2014.

Volkswagen is all systems go once again in Australia: the Golf is up 52% to #11, the Polo up 86% to #51 and the Amarok up 63% and 24 spots to #38 with 2,013 sales, by far its highest ever Quarterly ranking and slowly but surely making itself a name in the very competitive Ute market (Australian for Pick-up truck). Other great gainers in the Top 50 include the Kia Cerato up 37% to #39 and Kia Sportage up 69% to #45. Reversely we also witness some particularly harsh evolutions this Quarter: the Holden Cruze is down 22% and departs the Top 10 at #14, the Nissan Pulsar is down 20% to #26, Nissan Dualis down 43% to #34 and the Ford Falcon down 33% to a paltry 50th place – so far from the 2nd spot it still held in 2006!

The Holden Trax is the most successful launch in the past 12 months.

There are four all-new models in the Top 100: the Holden Trax leads the game at #56 (vs. #62 in Q4’13), followed by the Nissan Juke at #94 (vs. #87), Isuzu MU-X at #96 (vs. #177) and the BMW 4 Series at #100 (vs. #137). Notice also the Suzuki S-Cross at #135 (vs. #214), the Nissan Altima at #138 (vs. #146) and the Ford Ecosport at #140 (vs. #170). As far as all-new models for 2014 (no ranking in Q4’13), they are led by the BMW 2 Series at #168 with 151 sales, ahead of the Kia Pro Ceed at #201 (76), Infiniti Q50 at #224 (52) and the Mercedes GLA at #254 (19).

Previous post: Australia March 2014: New sedan pushes Toyota Corolla up to #1

Previous month: Australia February 2014: Mazda3 remains most popular

Previous Quarterly report: Australia Q4 2013: Jeep Grand Cherokee shines

One year ago: Australia Q1 2013: Discover the Top 282 All-models ranking

Full Q1 2014 Top 300 All-models and Top 35 brands Ranking Tables below.