Industry Sales Results
Industry Sales Results

The fastest-growing car brands in 2016

New vehicle sales are on track for an all-time record in 2016, up 2.8 per cent at the end of July to 689,471 units. But there are some brands doing better than others. Here we want to mention those that have grown the most, and the fastest.


This constitutes two metrics: volume growth and percentage growth. The former favours brands coming off a high base, the latter favours smaller niche brands that can double or even triple sales in the blink of an eye. Let’s look at both.

2016 biggest growth brands by volume gain:

Ford — up 6720 units
The Blue Oval brand has been the star of 2016, growing its sales to 47,277 units, putting it fifth overall. As you might expect, the Ranger 4x4 (17,623 sales, up 37.5 per cent), Mustang (3118 new sales) and Everest (2183 new sales) have been the heavy lifters.

Kia — up 5456 units
The Korean brand grew its sales to the end of July by an impressive 5456 units, to 24,481 — inside the top 10. Its top-seller has been the Cerato (7380, up 19 per cent), ahead of the Sportage (6247, up 31 per cent), Rio (4166, up 17 per cent), Carnival (2857, up 52 per cent) and Sorento (2465, up 34 per cent).

Mazda — up 3486 units
Australia’s second top-selling car brand has only grown 5.3 per cent this year, but this is still 3486 extra units (to 69,433). The CX-3 is doing the heavy lifting, up 5581 units to 11,116, more than balancing out the decline in Mazda 3 (down 1663).

Hyundai — up 3343 units
Australia’s third top-selling car brand has only grown six per cent this year, but its huge volume equals 3343 extra units, up to 61,953. The stars have been the Accent (10,084 units, up 5249) and i30 (25,073, up 6522 and Australia’s top-selling car), plus the Tucson (11,106 new sales, outweighing the now defunct ix35, which had 10,661 last year).

BMW — up 3160 units
The German luxury brand has grown its sales an impressive 22 per cent this year, to 17,803 units — almost 4000 units more than Audi. The all-new BMW X1 is the driver of this, with 1807 extra sales, alongside the X3 (517 more), 1 Series (473 more), X4 (406 more) and 3 Series (381 more).

Mercedes-Benz — up 2920 units
BMW’s arch rival is still the luxury leader with 23,861 sales. The incremental growth is almost all from the new GLC SUV, with 2964 sales. This counterbalances a decline in the C-Class sedan and wagon of 1902. The GLE (up 1695) more than makes up for the defunct M-Class (down 1350).

Subaru — up 2404 units
The Japanese brand is having its best year ever, with 27,417 cumulative sales. Driving this is the updated Forester (1331 extra), and strong growth from others such as the Impreza (+533), Levorg (+479), Outback (+523) and XV (+403).

Land Rover — up 2132 units
The British icon has outsold Jeep this year. Leading the charge is the Discovery Sport (+2010), alongside the Range Rover Sport (+237), Discovery (+141) and Range Rover Evoque (+88).

Mitsubishi — up 1622 units
It’s been a mixed bag for the Japanese brand, though its ASX is one of the fastest-growing cars in the country (+3020). The new Pajero Sport has also added 3212 incremental sales. These two counterbalance declines from the Triton ute (down almost 2200 units).

Isuzu Ute — up 1543 units
Rugged ute- and SUV-maker Isuzu is once again punching above its weight. The durable D-Max range has grown more than 1200 units, mostly in the 4x2 market, while the MU-X has belied a fleet of new rivals to grow by 332.

2016 biggest growth brands by percentage gain:

LDV — up 194.2 per cent
The Chinese van-maker has almost tripled its sales to 909 units, driven by the G10 (286), G10 people-mover (297), V80 (293) and V80 Bus (33).

Jaguar — up 192.6 per cent
Sales at this British luxury sports icon have also almost tripled, to 1533 units. The stars are the all-new XE (1025), and incremental sales from the just-launched F-Pace crossover.

McLaren — up 114.2 per cent
Impressively, the supercar maker has more than doubled sales to 45 units, including a staggering 18 in July!

Land Rover — up 33.2 per cent
See above section.

Lamborghini — up 31.9 per cent
With 91 sales, the Italian Stallion has grown sales appreciably over the 69 it managed up to this point last year. All thanks to the Huracan.

Kia — up 28.1 per cent
See above section.

Infiniti — up 26.6 per cent
The Japanese luxury brand’s sales are still tiny here, at just 395 YTD. But growth is growth. The Q50 is the dominant plater, with 189 sales, up 21 per cent. The Q30 hatch launches soon, and will make a further impact.

Bentley — up 24.6 per cent
Sales have climbed from 65 YTD in 2015 to 81 this year so far, 52 of which have been the Continental. The new Bentayga SUV has managed 17 units so far.

Volvo Car — up 24 per cent
The Swedish marque has been offering sharpened deals for a while now, and buyers are finally finding it a viable alternative to the Germans. The all-new XC90 has added 605 sales, while the XC60 has added 273 and the V40 has grown 107.

BMW — up 21.6 per cent 

See above section.

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