Australia’s best selling cars revealed
Bushfires and drought are weighing heavily on Australia’s new car market, but there are a few bright spots and a few shock falls from grace.
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The Australian new car market is struggling.
Only 71,731 new cars found a home in January, a drop of 12.5 per cent on the same period in 2019.
This is the worst start to the year since 2009 when Australia was in the middle of the Global Financial Crisis.
Australia has experienced one of the most traumatic starts to a year in decades with drought and unparalleled bushfires affecting much of the country.
The head of the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries, Tony Weber, said this had a big impact on sales.
“Given the broad range of environmental, financial, international and political issues facing Australia during January, it is no surprise to see the new vehicle market has reported a conservative start to the year,” said Weber.
Toyota was again the most popular brand and its evergreen HiLux ute was the best selling vehicle in the country with 2968 workhorses finding a new home. The Ford Ranger ute (2624) and Toyota Corolla small car (2370) took out the other podium spots.
The Toyota RAV4 (2290) has started the year as Australia’s favourite SUV, overtaking the long-time family favourite Mazda CX-5 (1859).
But perhaps the most eye-opening result was the Mazda3, which shed more than 50 per cent of its sales for a total of 1330. Last year we revealed that the Mazda3 was the most popular car for private buyers, which is a weakness when families tighten budgets during tougher financial conditions.
On the bright side Audi returned to the black with a jump in sales of about 13 per cent compared to January 2019. Stablemate Porsche had an even better month with sales up more than 120 per cent. Macan and Cayenne SUVs were the big winners with sales jumping by more than 300 per cent and 70 per cent respectively.
Kia was the only top 10 brand to post a positive result. The South Korean brand was buoyed by strong sales of its cut-price Cerato small car and the arrival of the new Seltos compact SUV.
Chinese makers continued the strong growth of last year. MG is the standout. The company builds the affordable urban focused MG3 small car and MG ZS compact SUV. And the company sold more than 900 cars in January, an 80 per cent improvement on the same month last year. Commercial vehicle maker LDV logged significant growth, up more than 60 per cent. Haval SUV sales increased by almost 450 per cent.
Subaru continued its downer from 2019. Only one model ended the month in the black, the low selling Levorg wagon. Even the outstanding Forester SUV had a tough month, down by 44 per cent, and the Impreza small car continues to lose ground to newer rivals. Subaru needs some reinforcements, but the new Outback isn’t due until year’s end at the earliest.
Australians have yet to embrace new French flavours. Citroen sold 13 cars in January, two fewer than Bentley. Peugeot moved 137, down 10 per cent on last year. The most established player, Renault sold more than 400 cars — still down by nearly 30 per cent — and has begun a major sales offensive.
Top 10 cars
Toyota HiLux – 2968
Ford Ranger – 2624
Toyota Corolla – 2370
Toyota RAV4 – 2290
Mitsubishi Triton – 2075
Hyundai i30 – 2038
Mazda CX-5 – 1859
Kia Cerato – 1500
Nissan X-Trail – 1467
Mazda3 – 1330
Top 10 brands
Toyota – 14,809
Mazda – 6695
Hyundai – 5443
Mitsubishi – 5108
Kia – 4705
Ford – 4169
Nissan – 3444
Honda – 3436
Volkswagen – 3246
Holden – 2641
Originally published as Australia’s best selling cars revealed
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