Sales for the first quarter of the year are wrapped, with March sales up 7.4 per cent on February, and 2013 sales up five per cent on 2012 year-to-date.
The 97,400 new passenger cars, SUVs, utes and trucks sold in March contribute to a 273,048 sales total for the first quarter, fuelling predictions of a 1.155 million market this year.
Book-ending the winners and losers, Nissan grew 20 per cent year-to-date while Holden fell 14.4 per cent.
In March, Holden slumped to fifth place overall, edged out by both Nissan and – for the first time ever – Hyundai, which sat in third and fourth place respectively, while Toyota maintained first, and Mazda remained in second place.
Also for the first time ever, the Holden Commodore fell out of the top 10 selling cars both for March (1606 sales, 12th place) and so far this year (4995 units, 11th spot). Holden says it isn't concerned as it winds down VE Commodore production approaching the switch to the VF Commodore generation in May.
The Nissan Pulsar just beat the Commodore in March, finding 11th spot and 1644 sales, and contributing to its marque's sizeable gains. Impressive performances from the Hyundai i20, i30 and ix35 saw the Korean manufacturer get within six sales of Nissan and third place – 8402 sales versus 8408.
Three of the top five selling models year-to-date are now utes – with Toyota HiLux in third (9193 sales), Nissan Navara fourth (7618) and Ford Ranger making a lunge from 10th to fifth with 7355 units shifted. All three can't quite match the storming performance of the two smalls cars which lead the top two places year-to-date, the Mazda 3 (10,509) and Toyota Corolla (9630).
In the monthly sales race, the Mazda 3 tallied 3786 for the podium top spot, with HiLux (3552) and Corolla (3512) on the lower steps. Two other small cars were inside the top 10 – the Hyundai i30 found fourth spot (2595) and Holden Cruze sixth (2335) – with Nissan Navara (2499) squeezed before Cruze, and Mitsubishi Triton (1992) just after.
The Toyota Camry fell into eighth place, joing the Cruze as the only Australian built cars inside the top 10. The Cruze is the single top 10 selling locally produced car year-to-date.
Although the market is up overall, passenger vehicle sales fell 4.0 per cent year-to-date, while the SUV market grew 13 per cent. Rounding out the top 10 in March were the Mazda CX-5 (1830 sales – ninth) and Holden Captiva (1660 units – tenth).
Special mentions to the Ford Focus, which has leapt to 10th place year-to-date, and Honda which has grown by 80 per cent year-to-date, edging out Subaru for ninth spot on the manufacturer's leader board. The sales increase has particularly been driven by the Honda CR-V (1336 sales in March) which was beaten only by the CX-5 and Toyota RAV4 (1528) in the compact SUV class.
The top five light cars in March are the Toyota Yaris (1541 sales), Mazda 2 (1476), Hyundai i20 (1183), Suzuki Swift (1063) and Kia Rio (955), although the segment is down 7.2 per cent for the month and up just 3 per cent year-to-date.
Toyota Camry held a crushing three-to-one lead over the Mazda 6 (474 sales) in the medium class, while even the Holden Commodore's poor performance in the large car segment is still almost double that of the Ford Falcon, which posted just 831 monthly sales.
Although CX-5 dominated the compact SUV segment, the sub-compact SUV class also grew, with Subaru XV (1567 sales) just edging out the Nissan Dualis (1319).
In the large SUV segment, the Toyota Kluger just beat the locally-made Ford Territory, 1154 sales to 1059, but another Toyota product led the class overall – the Prado with 1343 sales.
Top 10 Best-selling Vehicles – March 2013
Mazda 3 – 3786 Toyota HiLux – 3552 Toyota Corolla – 3512 Hyundai i30 – 2595 Nissan Navara – 2499 Holden Cruze – 2335 Mitsubishi Triton – 1992 Toyota Camry – 1916 Mazda CX-5 – 1830 Holden Captiva – 1660
Top 10 Best-selling Vehicles – 2013 to date
Mazda 3 – 10,509 Toyota Corolla – 9630 Toyota HiLux – 9193 Nissan Navara – 7618 Ford Ranger – 7355 Hyundai i30 – 6656 Holden Cruze – 5702 Mitsubishi Triton – 5499 Holden Captiva – 5242 Ford Focus – 5187
Top 10 Best-selling Brands – March 2013 (growth over March 2012)
Toyota – 18,653 (+1.0 per cent) Mazda – 9112 (-2.5 per cent) Nissan – 8408 (+1.2 per cent) Hyundai – 8402 (+7.6 per cent) Holden – 8283 (-18.8 per cent) Ford – 6434 (-13.7 per cent) Mitsubishi – 5147 (-14.3 per cent) Volkswagen – 4299 (-4.1 per cent) Subaru – 4219 (+5.4 per cent) Honda – 3897 (+73.4 per cent)
Top 10 Best-selling Brands – 2013 to date (growth over 2012 to date)
Toyota – 48,045 (+1.4 per cent) Mazda – 26,752 (+0.9 per cent) Holden – 24,777 (-14.4 per cent) Nissan – 23,868 (+20 per cent) Hyundai – 22,723 (+4.6 per cent) Ford – 20,746 (+2.5 per cent) Mitsubishi – 15,605 (-0.9 per cent) Volkswagen – 12,323 (+2.8 per cent) Honda – 11,575 (+80 per cent) Subaru – 10,429 (nil change)
