Australia July 2017: Hilux leads for 5th straight month in record market

Snapping the Hilux near the town of Bolivia, in… Australia!

* NOW UPDATED with the Top 50 All-brands and Top 287 All-models – click on title to see *

The Australian new light vehicle market edges up 1.6% to set a new July record at 92.754 registrations, lifting the year-to-date tally up 0.4% to an all-time record 692.307 units. July marks the fourth monthly record in 2017 and the third in a row. SUVs pull the market up anew with sales gaining 9% year-on-year to earn a 40% market share vs. 38.6% for passenger cars, down 6%. Light commercials (mainly pickup trucks – called utes here) hold 18.3% of the Australian market this month. This slim July gain is the works of artificial channels: private sales are down 0.9% to 41.220 registrations whereas business fleets are up 1.8% to 38.892 and rental sales shoot up 16.5% to 6.756 while government sales are down 6.2% to 2.919.

The Mazda3 is up 64% in July, helping Mazda to a strong 10.3% market share. 

Looking at data by state, the smallest of them all, Northern Territory (Darwin), posts the largest year-on-year improvement at +10%, followed by South Australia (Adelaide) up 8.7%, Victoria (Melbourne) up 4.2%, New South Wales (Sydney) up 1.3% and Queensland (Brisbane) up 0.5%. In terms of production source of the vehicles sold in Australia, Japan in on top as usual with 27.524 sales, ahead of Thailand (21.915), South Korea (13.656), Germany (6.542), Australia (4.821), the United States (4.026) and the United Kingdom (3.163).

The Mazda CX-5 reclaims the title of best-selling SUV in Australia in July. 

Toyota more than ever dominates the brands ranking with sales up 2.7% to 19.3% share, totalling more sales than the next two brands combined, with both its July and year-to-date volumes the highest since 2008. Mazda in 2nd place steps up by a splendid 12.6% to reach 10.3% share, while Hyundai (-1.3%), Holden (-8.5%) and Ford (-9.1%) all stumble. Mitsubishi posts a robust 11.2% gain in 6th place, but the two heroes of the months are Kia, continuing to surf on double-digit gains at +20% – and overtaking Volkswagen to now rank #8 year-to-date – and Subaru up 3 spots on June to #8 and 27.1% on July 2016 to 4.6% market share, thanks to the success of the facelifted XV featuring in the Top 30 best-selling models.

The facelifted XV (+88%) helps Subaru up 27.1% in July.

Model-wise, the Toyota Hilux celebrates a fifth consecutive month in the Australian pole position and 7th time in the past 12 months thanks to deliveries up 19% year-on-year. The Hilux 7 months tally is a record for the nameplate in Australia. For once the Hilux also leads the 4×4 ranking with 2.802 sales vs. 2.627 for the Ford Ranger which remains the leader YTD. The Toyota Corolla jumps up to #2 despite dropping 6%, overtaking the Ranger (+7%) still #2 overall so far in 2017. The Mazda3 (+64%) compensates for a very low base in July 2016 while the Toyota Camry (+10%) lands at an excellent 5th place and is headed for its best year in a decade.

The new Holden Astra is slowly but surely climbing up the charts: #24 this month. 

At #6, the Mazda CX-5 (+19%) reclaims the #1 SUV spot the Hyundai Tucson (#9) snapped last month, with the Toyota RAV4 (#8) sliding in-between. Hyundai i30 sales continue to be in negative (-4%) as the 2016 base was heavily discounted volumes of the outgoing previous generation. Further down, notice the Mitsubishi Triton (+27%), ASX (+37%) and Nissan X-Trail (+48%) posting generous gains, the Holden Commodore (-13%) climbing back up seven spots to #12 and reclaiming the title of Holden best-seller off the Colorado (#17) just as the Astra continues to improve at #21 (+7 spots on June). As mentioned above, the Subaru XV (+88%) has a stellar month in 23rd place.

Previous month: Australia June 2017: Hyundai Tucson up to #4 in all-time record month

One year ago: Australia July 2016: Corolla back to #1, Hilux and Ranger fight

Full July 2017 Top 50 All-brands and Top 287 All-models below.