The official VFACTS figures for Australian new vehicle registrations for March 2013 are in, and it looks like there’s more sports car fans joining the roads this month, with a big jump in Toyota 86 sales.
Toyota remained as the top favourite vehicle brand in the country, making up 19.2 per cent of overall sales in March (up from 17.8 per cent in February). Toyota managed to post its best sales in three years.
The second most popular brand was Mazda (9.2 per cent), again, however, Nissan (8.6) and Hyundai (8.6) are breathing down its neck. Holden continued to take up 8.5 per cent, as per the previous month.
As for the most popular vehicle model sold in March, it was the Mazda3 once again. Interestingly, Toyota moved into second place overall with the Corolla. The top five vehicles for March 2013 in terms of sales were as follows:
1. Mazda3 – 3786 (up from 3378 of February)
2. Toyota Corolla – 3512 (up from 3158)
3. Toyota HiLux – 3127 (down from 3317)
4. Hyundai i30 – 2595 (up from 2055)
5. Nissan Navara – 2499 (down from 2645)
With the Australian sedans in the Large Cars under $70,000 segment, Holden remains the clear favourite posting 1606 sales. Although the Holden easily crushed Falcon sales (831), the figures did drop from February’s 1733 effort. It will be interesting to watch this space in the lead up to the new VF Commodore, which will arrive in just a few months. Toyota sold 498 examples of its Aurion sedan (up from 370).
In the Large Cars over $70,000 category, BMW gained a lead ahead of the other front runners, while Mercedes-Benz E-Class sales continued to dwindle. The top five vehicle sales figures looked like this:
1. BMW 5 Series – 96 (up from 77 of February)
2. Audi A6 – 65 (up from 49)
3. Jaguar XF – 63 (down from 85)
4. Lexus GS – 54 (up from 45)
5. Mercedes-Benz E-Class – 36 (up from 32)
The Sports Car under $80,000 segment saw some big movements, as mentioned, with 786 sales of the popular Toyota 86 sports coupe. The figure is significantly above the previous month’s effort of 559.
A Toyota spokesman told PerformanceDrive that the company was able to obtain more stock in February, fulfilling some of the customer orders. If the supply could accommodate, there’s no doubt sales would be even higher. It’s understood the current specification model will be on sale for at least the next six months before a minor update may be introduced.
The effort not only pushed the Hyundai Veloster further down, the Mercedes-Benz C-Class Coupe was also able to climb ahead of the funky three-door. Hyundai sold 340 Velosters while Mercedes-Benz sold 369 Coupes. Out of curiosity, Subaru moved 107 examples of the BRZ.
In the desirable Sport Cars over $80,000 segment, the Mercedes-Benz E-Class Cabrio/Convertible managed to move past February’s best seller, the Audi A5. Audi sold 44 A5s while Mercedes-Benz sold 77 E-Class two-doors. The top five sellers in this category were as follows:
4. Mercedes-Benz E-Class Coupe/Cabrio – 77 (up from 32 of February)
2. BMW 3 Series Coupe/Convertible – 57 (up from 52)
3. Mercedes-Benz SLK – 48 (up from 47)
1. Audi A5 – 44 (down from 68)
5. Porsche Boxster – 21 (up from 19)
In the high-end Sport Cars over $200,000 category, the BMW 6 Series remained the favourite, while the Mercedes-Benz SL crept into second place. The overall top five in this segment were as followed:
1. BMW 6 Series – 22 (down from 18 of February)
2. Mercedes-Benz SL-Class – 17 (up from 14)
3. Porsche 911 – 14 (equal)
4. Maserati (models not specified) – 12 (equal)
3. Ferrari (models not specified) – 10 (down from 13)
In the somewhat sporty Medium Cars under $60,000 segment, Toyota once ahead showed everyone has it’s done, with 1916 sales of the Toyota Camry. It was followed by the Mazda6 (474) and the Volkswagen Jetta (374), trailing well behind.
Moving up into the premium Medium Cars over $60,000 segment, the Mercedes-Benz C-Class pushed its lead right ahead, reporting 879 sales, followed by the BMW 3 Series with 542 sales. Lexus moved into the top three, pushing out the Audi A4. The top five consisted of the following:
1. Mercedes-Benz C-Class – 879 (up from 381)
2. BMW 3 Series – 542 (up from 369)
4. Lexus IS 250/350/IS F – 300 (up from 199)
3. Audi A4 – 195 (up from 184)
5. Audi A5 Sportback – 59 (down from 60)
In the highly popular 4×4 ute segment, the Toyota HiLux remains the obvious favourite, reporting 2398 sales. It was once again followed by the Nissan Navara 4×4, which reported 2125 sales. The Mitsubishi Triton rounded out the top three with 1677 sales.
For the combined 4×2 and 4×4 ute sales, the overall sales dwindled compared with the previous month. The top ten 4×2 and 4×4 combined figures for March 2013 were as follows
1. Toyota HiLux – 3127 (down from 3319 of February)
2. Nissan Navara – 2499 (down from 2645)
3. Mitsubishi Triton – 1992 (down from 2335)
4. Ford Ranger – 1685 (down from 249
4)
6. Mazda BT-50 – 1183 (down from 1342)
7. Holden Colorado – 1120 (down from 1164)
5. Izusu D-Max – 827 (up from 801)
8. Volkswagen Amarok – 488 (up from 371)
9. Great Wall V200 – 202 (down from 293)
10. Great Wall V240 – 157 (down from 184)
Lastly, the SUV segments saw some shuffling. Australia’s Ford Territory dropped down a notch and out of the top three, making way for the Holden Captiva 7 in the SUV Large under $70,000 segment. The Captiva 7 posted 1082 sales, just nudging out ahead of the Territory which reported 1059 sales.
In the popular SUV Medium under $60,000 segment, the new Honda CR-V is continuing to gain on its competitors, with 1336 sales (up from 1232). The category was dominated by the Mazda CX-5 though with 1830 sales.
In other areas, the Subaru XV jumped hugely in sales compared with February in its respective segment, while large luxury SUV sales were down slightly. The BMW X5 regained the lead. In all SUV segments, the top-sellers for March 2o13 went like this:
SUV Small under $40,000:
Subaru XV – 1567 (up from 799 of February)
Hyundai ix35 – 1529 (down from 1534)
Nissan Dualis – 1319 (down from 1549)
SUV Small above $40,000:
Audi Q3 – 308 (down from 331)
BMW X1 – 151 (down from 160)
MINI Countryman – 41 (up from 37)
SUV Medium under $60,000:
Mazda CX-5 – 1830 (up from 1319)
Toyota RAV4 – 1528 (up from 1167)
Honda CR-V – 1336 (up from 1232)
SUV Medium above $60,000:
BMW X3 – 308 (up from 296)
Range Rover Evoque – 211 (up from 187)
Audi Q5 – 200 (down from 265)
SUV Large under $70,000:
Toyota Prado – 1343 (up from 1238)
Toyota Kluger – 1154 (up from 989)
Holden Captiva 7 – 1082 (up from 866)
SUV Large above $70,000:
BMW X5 – 342 (up from 290)
Mercedes-Benz ML-Class – 190 (down from 223)
Lexus RX – 178 (down from 185)
SUV Upper Large under $100,000:
Toyota LandCruiser – 990 (up from 713)
Nissan Patrol – 273 (up from 228)
SUV Upper Large above $100,000:
Mercedes-Benz GL-Class – 46 (up from 3)
Range Rover – 31 (down from 43)
Lexus LX – 11 (equal)
Overall, new vehicle sales in Australia in March picked up on February figures, with 97,400 new vehicle registrations compared with 90,218 of February. The numbers are slightly down on March 2012 figures (97,616) though.
As for what fuel types buyers preferred in March, the sales figures for private buyers in terms of vehicle fuel were as follows (passenger, SUV, and light commercial combined):
Petrol – 37,450 (up from 33,424 of February)
Diesel – 11,511 (down from 11,639)
Hybrid – 387 (up from 341)
LPG – 44 (up from 17)
Electric – 5 (equal)
