Seven cars Australians should buy more of: 2016 mid-year report

You may have seen our hugely popular list of cars that Aussies should be buying, but aren’t. And while it hasn’t done anything to improve the fortunes of the Peugeot 308 – despite our vehement insistence that it is one of the cars that should get small car purchasers through the door – the response was excellent.


So, with a focus on the first six months of sales in 2016, here’s an updated list of seven cars that really should be attracting more buyers. Let us know if you agree!

Jeep Renegade
521 sales after six months

It’s a tough looking Jeep made miniature, yet only 521 units sold in the first six months of the year, but with a recent price cut – yep, another one – the Renegade is now much more competitive against its key rivals. The segment is up 9.4 per cent, and the Mazda CX-3 continues to dominate.

Citroen C4 Cactus
116 sales after six months

Speaking of the Mazda CX-3, that little Japanese high-rider amasses the same number of sales that the C4 Cactus has managed in six months in about two and a half days. Could be down to the fact it has a diesel with an annoying semi-automatic or a petrol engine with a manual. A petrol auto would help those sales along nicely: but keep in mind it’s still the second-biggest selling Citroen, just behind the Berlingo van (166 sales over the same period).

Skoda Fabia
484 sales after six months

This is Skoda's antidote to the small SUV craze, and maybe that’s why it isn’t selling that well. The light car class is down 17 per cent, but the fact the Fabia has been updated with new tech and has a wagon option gives it a good point of difference. Apparently people like the wagon version of this car, too – so we hope it does even better.

Skoda Octavia
903 sales after six months

Another Skoda? Yep. And this one, the Octavia mid-sizer, was on our original list last year, too. And while sales have dipped (again, not my fault!), they should pick up given the brand just updated the range with heaps more equipment. The mid-year sales tally isn’t great, though: Toyota sells that many Camry models in nine days.

Ford Kuga
2295 sales after six months

The Ford Kuga’s sales are up this year – in fact, the numbers have jumped 9.4 per cent compared to this time last year. But the market is up 12.9 per cent. And it should be doing better, because it’s a good SUV for small families.

BMW 2 Series Active Tourer
553 sales after six months

This hasn’t gone as well as we perhaps predicted. The 2 Series Active Tourer arrived with many of us expecting it to take the fight to the Mercedes B-Class. But it hasn’t, with just 553 cars sold so far this year (B-Class: 1016 units). Maybe BMW buyers are instead getting in on the SUV action by way of the X1 (it has sold 2185 units over the same period, and leads the small luxury SUV segment as a result).

Subaru Liberty
1868 sales after six months

Once upon a time the Subaru Liberty sold really well. I mean, never as well as the Camry, but hey… Anyway, it’s been updated, it’s good, it has all-wheel-drive as standard, and yet it’s down 11.3 per cent to the end of June. The good news for Subaru is that the wagon version, the Outback, is going great guns, with 5956 cars leaving dealerships after six months (up 9.0 per cent).

Let us know what you think about these cars. Should more people be buying them? If not, why not?

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