Holden maintains title as Victoria’s most commonly stolen vehicle brand

A mantle it has held consecutively since 2010, Holden led the automotive pack of pinched property ahead of Nissan, Toyota, Ford and Honda, with lion-stamped product comprising 15.4 per cent of all vehicles stolen in the 12 months between January and December, 2014.

With 18,097 vehicles reported to police as stolen, the State’s number of motor vehicle theft offences increased by 11.5 per cent over 2013.

Though the Crime Statistics Agency says there is no evidence of any seasonal patterns related to motor vehicle theft, August proved 2014’s highest month with 1512 offences recorded – 212 more than the lowest recorded month of September.

On a more positive note for owners who may have had their pride and joy nicked, Victoria Police recovered 11,090 stolen vehicles, or 61.3 per cent of the total number of cars stolen for the year.

*Note: Those behind the statistics stress that the number of vehicles recovered in 2014 may not be entirely reflective of the number of vehicles stolen that same year, as some vehicles recovered in 2014 may have been reported as stolen in previous years.

Top 10 motor vehicles stolen by make - 2014

Holden - 2791 (down 28 on 2013)
Nissan - 2634 (up 836 on 2013)
Toyota - 2337 (up 79 on 2013)
Ford - 2140 (down 26 on 2013)
Honda - 1051 (up 102 on 2013)
Mitsubishi - 895 (up 37 on 2013)
Subaru - 876 (up 275 on 2013)
Mazda - 728 (up 35 on 2013)
Hyundai - 528 (up 46 on 2013)
Yamaha - 372 (up 45 on 2013)