Car sales May 2012: winners and losers

By Tim Beissmann
June 05th, 2012

FIND DEALS

The Toyota HiLux has recorded its second consecutive month as Australia’s best-selling vehicle as the popularity of 4×4 utes surged in May.

Toyota sold 4626 HiLux models across the country last month, including 3539 4×4 variants and 1087 4x2s, easily accounting for the second-placed Mazda3 small car, which managed 3288 sales.

The 4×4 pick-up/cab-chassis segment rose to become the second largest in the market behind small cars, overtaking the light and large-SUV segments with a 12.0 per cent share of all sales across the industry.

Toyota Australia’s sales increased 85.1 per cent in May compared with the corresponding month in 2011 when the company was crippled by limited supply as a result of the natural disasters in Japan.

The HiLux was joined in the top ten by the Corolla in third place (3155 sales), the Prado in eighth (1900) and the Camry in ninth (1850). The Yaris just missed the charts, slotting in at 11^th with 1826 sales and taking command of the light-car segment.

While the Mazda3 holds a solid lead in the sales race year-to-date (17,889 units), Toyota now has five of the top 10: Corolla (15,222), HiLux (15,104), Camry (8645), Prado (7707) and Yaris (7677).

For the first time, the locally made Holden Cruze small car has overtaken the Commodore in year-to-date sales – 13,380 versus 13,117 – on the back of another strong month in May.

Meanwhile in the blue corner, the Ford Focus enjoyed its best sales month since January 2008, reaching 1667 units. The Ranger (1611) and Territory (1280) were both up on May 2011, while the Falcon struggled to 1008 sales and remains more than 25 per cent off last year’s pace with just 5415 sales so far in 2012.

Nissan (6966 sales) finished 80 units clear of Hyundai, surging into the top five manufacturers for May on the back of impressive numbers from the Navara (2436), X-Trail (1518) and Dualis (1330).

Skoda, Jeep and Subaru continued their strong starts to the year with big year-on-year growth in May, while at the other end of the spectrum, Chrysler, Peugeot and Chery continued to struggle.

Sales across the country increased 24.1 per cent last month compared with May 2011, hitting 96,069 vehicles. Year-to-date, the industry is up 8.8 per cent compared with 2011, with a total of 435,288 vehicles sold.

Top 10 Best-selling Vehicles – May 2012

Toyota HiLux – 4626
Mazda3 – 3288
Toyota Corolla – 3155
Holden Cruze – 2860
Holden Commodore – 2521
Nissan Navara – 2436
Hyundai i30 – 2159
Toyota Prado – 1900
Toyota Camry – 1850
Mitsubishi Triton – 1845

Top 10 Best-selling Vehicles – 2012 to date

Mazda3 – 17,889
Toyota Corolla – 15,222
Toyota HiLux – 15,104
Holden Cruze – 13,380
Holden Commodore – 13,117
Hyundai i30 – 10,976
Nissan Navara – 10,146
Toyota Camry – 8645
Toyota Prado – 7707
Toyota Yaris – 7677

Top 10 Best-selling Brands – May 2012

Toyota – 20,443
Holden – 9017
Mazda – 8346
Ford – 7738
Nissan – 6966
Hyundai – 6886
Mitsubishi – 5154
Volkswagen – 4739
Subaru – 3803
Honda – 3103

Top 10 Best-selling Brands – 2012 to date

Toyota – 84,386
Holden – 45,551
Mazda – 42,540
Hyundai – 35,534
Ford – 34,290
Nissan – 31,549
Mitsubishi – 24,641
Volkswagen – 20,520
Subaru – 17,240
Kia – 12,409

Top 10 Car Brands for Growth – May 2012

Lamborghini +125.0 per cent
Skoda +116.4 per cent
Jeep +93.8 per cent
Toyota +85.1 per cent
Dodge +68.3 per cent
Subaru +55.0 per cent
Great Wall +53.3 per cent
Lotus +50.0 per cent
Mazda +40.5 per cent
Renault +35.0 per cent

Bottom 10 Car Brands for Growth – May 2012

Aston Martin –100.0 per cent
Rolls-Royce –100.0 per cent
Saab –95.8 per cent
Chrysler –51.5 per cent
Peugeot –29.9 per cent
Chery –27.5 per cent
Smart –22.7 per cent
Holden –18.9 per cent
Porsche –14.3 per cent
Ferrari –9.1 per cent

Read more:

Light cars: May sales overview

Small cars: May sales overview

Medium cars: May sales overview

SUV: May sales overview

Utes: May sales overview

New car sales figures May 2012

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BP

Still good enough sales for C’dore anyway regardless of it been overtaken by Cruze. Less than a year till VF!!!!
- Guest1
  
  Commodore resurgence is not gunna happen. The fleets have jumped ship: Cruze will continue to climb at the expense of Commodore.
  Pity, what we need is more local content for Cruze: GMH are you listening 25% just doesn’t cut it for your local suppliers!
  - Shak
    
    Cut them some slack, the car is still only in its first generation. Maybe GMH are planning on a big local content boost when the second generation model is launched sometime around 2014.
    
    On your first point, i dont think Commodore will ever get back to its glory days sales numbers, but if VF is going to be as advanced as some of the US and Australian sources are saying then it will definitely fly up the charts for a couple of months at least. I personally know at least 10 people who were considering the Commodore but could not justify spending that much money on a design that is starting to get very tired. I for one have stated publicly on CA that my money is down on a VF as my next car, heres hoping all the rumours are true!
    - Legnab
      
      Commodore and the falcon will just wither away , tough economic times will make it even harder to sell barges .
      
      Why will the VF be a saviour its just a tart up of the current platform , nothing that will save the day , aussies are downsizing at an even faster rate , as guest1 said thay have lost the fleeters too , death by a thousand cuts .
      
      Save your money shak stick with your cruze .
      - Luke
        
        Personally I’d prefer to drive my family in comfort and pay the extra $30 odd at the pump. The Cruze feels much the same as the Daewoo’s of past did – small, gutless and uncomfortable. Hell my partner’s little Yaris feels nicer. And the Commodore? Well while shopping for a car recently I test drove both the VE and FG. Sorry, but the FG won hands down in pretty much every aspect. Needless to say, I bought the G6.
- Schah7
  
  Gee “BP” hope you can get a good night sleep by then.!
  Your so childish if you cant see by those figures your ”wonderboy”Commodore is going down the same plug-hole as Falcon.!
Focuss93

Fords on it’s way back!!!!!!Hope eco boost will help it even more
- Phil
  
  The only models with Ecoboost here are Falcoone and Mondeo and neither have shown themselves “on it’s way back”.
- MichaelLock
  
  What, did you get a phone call from their marketing department saying they were actually going to do something soon, fill me in too with their plan?
fail

VFACTS is rubbish …. I wonder how many of these cars are registered but just sitting on dealer lots ……..
- Phil
  
  You think those cars just sit there forever? They’d get sold eventually.
- MichaelLock
  
  So what, that means these dealers won’t be able to register the same amount next month if they have overdone it this month, it all averages out in the end because it is capped by actual sales obtained.
- Gazza
  
  Hey FAIL guess what you only get to register them once regardless if there on a dealers floor or not! DO SOME HOMEWORK NEXT TIME!
D4D

Timely info. Thx Car Advice!!
S_hunt144

See how long the Hilux stays up there now that mining companies, led by BHP, are refusing to buy non 5 star safety rated dual cabs.

Should see ranger/bt50 and Amarok sales increase as a result.
- Symo
  
  It’s not a blanket change, it’s a staggered roll out, by the time the next big buy is made Toyota should have responded. Be interesting to see what they do with the troop carrier and 70-series utes. These are the life blood of above and underground transport. There is no way the 70-series can be made 5-star.
- MichaelLock
  
  Ranger/BT-50 yes, Amarok….no. I just can’t imagine these up in the North West WA summer with their european climate control systems, plus the lack of spare parts availability. Don’t get me wrong though, I do like the Amarok for light commercial & tradie use but not for mining companies and the like in WA/QLD/NT & SA.
  Good luck to VW if they can persuade the mining fleet managers to give them a go though
  - Gazza
    
    Michael where I come from no company will touch a VW PRODUCT because of there reputation for unrealability! TOYOTA rules up here no wonder HILUX is the best selling commercial in australia!
Nmrenwick

Renault is gathering steam. And rightly so. Finally seeing some ads for their cars on TV.
guest

I couldn’t get a Focus Sport in May, no stock until July. That may explain how bad Ford is.
Schn

Corolla still selling really well even though it is quite old and isn’t as good when compared to its rivals. This just goes to show how deeply embedded Toyota’s reputation is among many Australians. CarAdvice, any news of when the new Corolla is being released?
- TG
  
  New Corolla hatch is due in the last quarter this year.
  - Schn
    
    Thanks.
  - Schn
    
    Thanks.
- save it for the track
  
  When there’s mainstream newspaper reviews(with a website to go with it) stating that Corolla is the choice in it’s segment what else can you expect. Not to mention the focus of organisations such as NRMA, RACQ and the like being on ‘costs’ and cost of ownership as opposed to driving feel and performance. Factor those in, and it’s no wonder the whitegoods on wheels that are most Toyota’s do well, with even old tech like the Hilux selling based on past reputation, despite losing many a comparison in 4wd mags and other’s. As most of us should well know by now, the Australian motoring sales market has absoutely nothing to do with the best car. It’s who does the best job at presenting their product, and over the years Toyota have been masters. Not all of us are such sheep though…
  - save it
    
    The rest are sheep in another kind of way though…
Rocket

Holden looks to be on the slide and is danger of losing 2nd spot to Mazda by the end of the year at this rate. Amazing how good Ford sales are despite the Falcon selling at record low levels. I think they are finally shaking the image of the Falcon car company with its good range of Euro vehicles and the new Ranger. I do like Falcons by the way.
- Legnab
  
  Rocket every one critisized the focus pricing , but sales have proved that the public recognizes a good car , far better than the crude ,which is very average against stiff competition especially now with a new i30.
  - Rocket
    
    I have driven a Cruze rental a few years ago and whilst it was comfortable it was boring to drive like a Camry. I like to support Australian manufacturing but only if the product is as good as the competitors but the Cruze is way down the small car list if I was in the market for one.
    - Dave S
      
      Cruze is a good car and excellent value. Want more performance? get yourself an SV6 or even better the SS. I also doubt the rental car was the CRuze SriV model. maybe you should try that one.
- Legnab
  
  Rocket every one critisized the focus pricing , but sales have proved that the public recognizes a good car , far better than the crude ,which is very average against stiff competition especially now with a new i30.
- BOSSCR
  
  It’s not all doom and gloom for Ford Aus like a lot of people in the media and on car forums might suggest. There were 1000+ Falcons and 1300+ Terrirtories sold in May. 2300 locally developed/manufactured LARGE cars from Ford vs 2500 Holden vs 1800 Camry’s (+ the 3 Aurions). Whilst it’s no comparison to the glory years during the 80′s/90′s, it’s not all bad. I do think they should have kept with their plans to produce the Focus locally rather than EcoBoost. I cant imagine it will make a huge difference.
  - Phil
    
    But it’s doom and gloom for GMH too! Just because GMH is doing almost as badly as Ford Au, it doesn’t suddenly mean its plain sailing for Ford.
    Plus you forgot to add exports to those figures – Toyota exports more Craprys then they sell here – their production figures would be around double your numbers.
    
    If it’s not all bad, why are there massive government subsidys being handed out and component suppliers going bust?
    
    Also they don’t produce Ecoboost locally – the engine comes from Spain, they just insert it into the car here.
    
    Finally, why produce Focus here when it’s cheaper and easier to import it?
Andrew M

Shak,
Put your money into a VF commodore, who cares what everyone else is doing.

But in saying that your claims about the VF and sales resurgence sounds just like what Ford believers were saying about the up coming FG a few years back, and it had the fuel economy of a 4cyl Camry to boot.

Ford have the Territory which has shored up a reasonable amount of numbers for its Aussie plants, but I think the bottom line is people want something different.

We are now spoilt for choice and I think its a stigma of a Commodore is a Commodore, and a Falcon is a Falcon.

Commodore used to sell 10,000 units in a market where much less cars were sold in generay.

Nowdays we sell over 1 million vehicles and not one single vehicle comes close to selling what the Commodore ever did.

Now its not acceptable to have a range of 1 large, 1 small and 1 SUV.

Have a look at Nissan for eg, they support a range of 4 Medium sized SUV’s!!!
Xtrail, Murano, Dualis, Pathfinder, and they probably have another on on the was as a light SUV like everyone else
Turbodewd

There are many differences between todays car market and that of 10 yrs ago:

* very high AUD compared to 2002
* massive market fragmentation and competition – there are so many offerings!
* lower tariff barriers and some free trade agreements, i.e Thailand

So these days the Falcon competes quite favorably v similar cars – Aurion, Liberty, Maxima, Mazda 6. If you seek a large, safe car with plenty of torque you need look no further. The EcoLPI edition is a hidden gem…youd have to be nuts not to go with half price fuel which delivers more power n torque than petrol ;^)
- Phil
  
  Falcoone only competes favourably on sales with those cars and only does it due to excessive discounting and government and business fleet sales. Plus it only happens in Au/NZ for Falcoone whilst all those other cars sell worldwide. In terms of profits, Falcoone doesn’t compete at all – barely scraping even despite hefy government donations.
  
  You’d have to be nuts to go for a large family car and end up with a sedan only body with the same bootspace as small cars like a little Honda City and barely anymore interior flexability than a sports coupe. If you wanted a large family car, you’d expect a much more usable interior for the vast external dimensions of a Falcoone – something like a Kia Carnival/Skoda Superb or even a Territory.
  - Legnab
    
    He sounds like a politician , like saving the facoone is like trying to save the labor party , sorry its all over both gone in a very short time .
    - Captain Nemo
      
      Turbodewd probably knows more about cars than a bogan that works in a grimy little pot & pan shop in Adelaide.
  - Turbodewd
    
    Mate, I happily buy Australian and can spell. You’re blissfully unaware that govts support their auto industry across the globe. The Falcon is an awesome bang-for-buck car. Plenty of torque, decent economy, nothing beats the XR6 Turbo!
    
    Honda City?! Are you a male or a hairdresser!?
    - Legnab
      
      Evey rthing beats a dino falcoone , bang goes your bucks, no value no resale , no economy , soon be gone .
  - Dave S
    
    No one wants to drive a Kia Carnival (unless they have 5 kids) or an ugly Skoda – look at the sales. Even the Falcon out sells both.
    
    You talk about interior space, its hard to past the interior width of the Falcon or Territory – very few cars under 60k+ will be wider. Not everyone wants to drive around in a giant box, just so i can claim large amounts of inerior space. i want my stuff secure in the boot, out of the way, not floating around the cabin attracting the attention of others or worse making me feel like a stow away, sitting around all your freight.
  - Captain Nemo
    
    Phildo the problem with cars you mention like the Honda City they have tiny boot openings and goose neck hinges. Too bad if you want to fit something bulky like a jogger pram plus some shopping. Not saying it wouldn’t fit in a City, but with a Falcon just chuck it in & shut the boot add a sooky child to the mix and loading up the Honda with it’s letterbox size opening would soon become tiresome. 500ltrs of boot capacity sounds good in a small car if you’re buying 1kg bags of sugar 500 at a time.
    Then you mentioned junk like the Un-superb it might have a clever boot opening but falls down on rear seat width, Put a baby in a capsule in the middle seat & even pre teens sitting next to it will be complaining about the lack of shoulder/hip room in the Un-superb , the human body can fold it’s legs up for a lack of legroom but can’t fold it’s shoulders too well for a lack of shoulder room. That is the result of basing your car on a VeeDud Passat. Carnival is fine but always has that stigma of people movers which some folks don’t like.
    - Legnab
      
      And the falcoone is the most unwanted car on the lot , not required, RIP the big barge , only old farts still buy them .
      - Luke
        
        Like I already said, personally I’d prefer to drive my family in comfort and pay the extra $30 odd at the pump. I generally see the penny-pinchers as the “old farts”.
      - Legnab
        
        And dont forget to tell the wife its worth zilch when you go to sell the falcoon/crummer .
      - Mac
        
        and premature farts buy golfs !!
Gazza

TOYOTA has 5 vehicles in the top 10 for 2012 and thats with the old COROLLA wait till the new model comes out, END OF 2012 WILL SHOW THIS:

#1 HILUX
#2 COROLLA
- GG
  
  #1 sports car : 86
- Mac
  
  clearly you support models that dont win awards …….its just for the badge it wears . I suppose if the FG falcon had a toyota badge on it you would spruke about how good it is !!…….then for once you would be correct !!
Luke

I wonder how many of those Hi-Lux’s are in WA…
- Dave S
  
  have the mines been stocking up?
  - Luke
    
    Couldn’t say. It does seem to tie in well with the recent growth in WA though.
LMTA

No more Falcons and Commodores for me. Looking good is the Peugeot 508 Allure 2-litre HDI Sedan. Comfy passenger area. Cavernous boot-space. Well-appointed. Might even go the 2.2-litre GT diesel in the range.