Australia June 2015: Hyundai i30 surprise leader in record market

The Hyundai i30 is the best-selling vehicle in Australia for the first time in history.

* See the Top 48 All-brands and Top 25 models by clicking on the title *

Despite hiccups in the overall economy and mining in Western Australia slowing down drastically, never before had Australians purchased that many new vehicle in a single month: the 125.850 registrations of June are the highest-ever monthly score in the history of automobile in the country, up a full 6% year-on-year and on the previous June 2013 record of 118.758 units. Halfway through the year, new car sales add up to an all-time high of 578.427 deliveries, up 3% on 2014 and 0.8% ahead of the previous best of 573.711 sales established in 2013. At this rate, 2015 will be the best year in history in Australia, beating the 2013 record of 1.136.227 registrations. SUVs keep pushing the market up with sales up 15% year-on-year to 42.256 units and a 33.6% market share. Australian website caradvice.com.au quotes FCAI chief executive Tony Weber: “According to CommSec, car affordability in Australia is the best it has ever been. Coupled with offers such as capped-price servicing and low interest rate finance, now is a great time for Australians to buy a new car.”

The last (and only) time a Hyundai topped the Australian sales charts was in June 1998.

Before we go into the detail of the brands and models ranking, let’s get straight to one of the biggest surprises in recent years: the Hyundai i30 taking the lead of the Australian models ranking for the first time with an astounding 5.521 sales and 4.4% share, up 70% on June 2014. This result, coming on the back of a $19,990 drive-away with free auto promotion, is exceptional both in absolute terms as a pure sales performance and relative terms for Hyundai. The i30 achieves the highest monthly volume of any nameplate in Australia in 8 years, since June 2007 when the Toyota Corolla clocked up 5.89o deliveries… It is the first time since December 2008 (Holden Commodore – 5.413 units) than a car manages to sell over 5.000 units in a single month in Australia. It is only the 2nd month in Australian history that Hyundai places one of its models atop the sales charts, the only previous one being June 1998 when the Excel popped up at #1.

The CX-3 helps Mazda sales up 23% and the HR-V boosts Honda deliveries up 70%.

Toyota maintains its stranglehold over the brands ranking with sales up 3% to 21.501 and 17.1% share, ahead of Holden back up two spots on May to #2 and 9.5% despite a 3% year-on-year decline, Mazda up an impressive 23% to 9.2%, Hyundai up 10% to 8.7% and Mitsubishi up 9% to 7.2%. Ford freefalls 17% to #6 and also slips below Mitsubishi to #6 year-to-date, Volkswagen is up 8% and Honda leaps 70% thanks to the success of the HR-V. Notice also Subaru up 17% (#10), Mercedes up 20% (#12), BMW up 28% (#13), Isuzu up 26% (#14), Audi up 22% (#16), Renault up 36% and Lexus up 60%. Reversely Nissan drops 17% and Jeep slips 15%.

Subaru Outback

In the models ranking, below the stunning performance of the Hyundai i30, the Toyota Hilux drops just one spot to #2 with sales stable year-on-year to 4.281 and the runout mode approaching in the wake of the launch of the new generation in October. The Toyota Corolla manages to edges back past its archenemy the Mazda3 at 4.152 deliveries (-11%) vs. 4.127 (+2%) and maintains its year-to-date overall leadership with 21.750 sales (-2%) vs. 20.417 (-9%) for the Mazda3. The Mitsubishi Triton (#5) and Ford Ranger (#6) both drop one spot but remain solid, as opposed to the Holden Commodore down 12% to #7 and dropping from #4 to #6 in the year-to-date ranking. The VW Golf (+19%), Mazda CX-5 (+14%) and Nissan X-Trail (#11) all shine, as do the Honda Jazz (1.439 sales), HR-V (1.300), Subaru Outback (1.257) and Mazda CX-3 (955)

Previous month: Australia May 2015: Discounted Toyota Hilux takes the lead

One year ago: Australia June 2014: Corolla #1, Mitsubishi Triton breaks records

Full June 2015 Top 48 All-brands and Top 25 models below.