Australia December 2014: Discounted Mitsubishi Triton outsells Toyota Hilux for the first time

The new generation Triton (pictured) will arrive in Australia in Q2 2015.

* See the Top 10 best-selling models and Top 50 brands by clicking on the title *

* The Full Year 2014 report is here *

New car sales in Australia finish the year on a very stable note: up 47 units or 0.05% on December 2013 to 96,803 deliveries and bringing the year-to-date total to 1,113,224 units, down 2% on a record 2013 figure and the second best year on record. Toyota is just under 20% share in December or one full percentage point above its annual market share, Mazda reclaims the 2nd spot off Hyundai thanks to sales up 2% year-on-year, Holden is back up one rank to #3 despite sales down a horrendous 15%. Mitsubishi lodges a stellar 7,438 units and 7.7%, up 11% on December 2013, Honda does even better at +50% and #9, and both Jeep (+28%) and Mercedes (+9%) impress again. Further down, Isuzu (+117%), Mini (+105%), Infiniti (+83%) and Citroen (+60%) take off.

The Mazda3 is the most popular nameplate in Australia in December, but not in 2014.

In the models ranking, the Mazda3 delivers a 5th month in pole position with 3,803 sales above the Toyota Corolla at 3,556 but this is not enough to prevent the Corolla from ranking #1 for the second year running in 2014 (more detail in the Full Year 2014 article). But the big event this month occurs in third place: thanks to heavy discounts in the lead-up to the arrival of the new generation in Q2 2015, the Mitsubishi Triton manages the impossible: it outsells perennial segment leader the Toyota Hilux with 3,420 sales (+13%) vs. 3,330 (-4%). Incredibly these figures are not all-time records for the Triton which already ranked #3 last June with 4,124 sales and 3.5%. It is however the first time the Hilux doesn’t lead the ute segment since April 2005 when it was outsold by the Holden Rodeo. Like one year ago, the Toyota Camry is the best-selling locally-produced model this month despite sales down 33% while the Holden Commodore is down 21% and the Toyota RAV4 reappears inside the Top 10 at #9 (+27%). 1665 1.9%

Previous month: Australia November 2014: Hyundai climbs on year-to-date podium

One year ago: Australia December 2013: Toyota Camry and Mitsubishi Triton up

Full December 2014 Top 10 models and Top 50 brands rankings below.