New-car sales to crack 1.1 million sales for fourth year in a row as Ford and Holden slam the brakes

THE year 2015 was a record for new-car sales. Everyone is celebrating except our former family favourites, Holden and Ford.

Factory closing ... Ford has taken another sales hit. Picture: Ellen Smith

AUSSIE icon car brands Holden and Ford have taken another massive sales dive — hitting their lowest results in decades — as both brands prepare to close their local factories within the next two years.

Confidential industry figures for the full year in 2015 show Ford posted its worst result in 49 years — since 1966, when decimal currency was introduced — while Holden’s tally was the lowest in 22 years.

They were the only two among the Top 10 brands to suffer a sales decline in 2015.

Holden, down by 2.9 per cent, was fewer than 1000 sales away from being overtaken by Hyundai.

Factory closing ... Ford has taken another sales hit. Picture: Ellen Smith

Meanwhile Ford fell by 11.6 per cent and slipped even further down the ladder, pushed outside the top five, having been overtaken by Mitsubishi in the annual tally for the first time in its history.

A sign of our changing buyer tastes, the Ford Falcon, having posted fewer than 6000 sales for the year, was comfortably outsold by the Mercedes-Benz C-Class luxury sedan.

Holden Commodore sales were also down despite the arrival of a new model.

Holden and Ford hit reverse despite the new-car market powering to another record, in excess of 1.1 million deliveries for the fourth year in a row.

Falling sales ... Ford has been overtaken by Mitsubishi in the annual tally for the first time in its history.

When official data is released at midday on Wednesday, the industry is expected to report more than 1.156 million vehicles were sold in 2015, eclipsing the previous record of 1,136,227 set in 2013.

Confidential preliminary figures show Japanese giant Toyota was the overall market leader for the 13th year in a row, ahead of Mazda, while the Toyota Corolla was our favourite car for the third consecutive year.

Changing tastes ... the Ford Falcon was comfortably outsold by the Mercedes-Benz C-Class luxury sedan.

However, the Toyota Camry was the surprise market leader in December after the company discounted the car to $28,990 drive-away — about $5000 off the RRP — and combined that with a low interest finance offer.

It was only the third time the Camry has ever topped the monthly sales charts; it was also number one in January 1995 and October 2012.

The data shows that Australians now buy more small cars than any other vehicle type, ahead of family SUVs.

But the big surprise is the continued strength of the ute market.

Workhorse vehicles that double as family cars are now the third biggest category for new-vehicle sales. Three models — the Toyota HiLux, Ford Ranger, and Mitsubishi Triton — made the Top 10 in December.

Top 10 cars in December

Toyota Camry 5320

Toyota Corolla 3470

Mazda3 3450

Toyota HiLux 3130

Ford Ranger 2840

Holden Commodore 2620

Mitsubishi Triton 2140

Hyundai i30 2000

Mazda CX-5 1920

Hyundai Tucson 1630

Top 10 brands in December

Toyota 21,220

Mazda 9700

Holden 9145

Mitsubishi 7510

Hyundai 7160

Ford 6290

Nissan 5010

Volkswagen 4450

Subaru 3610

Honda 3320

Top 10 brands: full year 2015

Toyota 206,237 — up 1.3 per cent

Mazda 114,024 —- up 13.2 per cent

Holden 102,951 — down 2.9 per cent

Hyundai 102,004 — up 1.9 per cent

Mitsubishi 71,752 — up 4.5 per cent

Ford 70,454 — down 11.6 per cent

Nissan 66,063 — up 0.05 per cent

Volkswagen 60,225 — up 9.9 per cent

Subaru 43,600 — up 7.6 per cent

Honda 40,100 — up 21.5 per cent

Preliminary figures. Official VFACTS data released midday Wednesday.

This reporter is on Twitter: @JoshuaDowling