Ford, Mitsubishi fleets shrinking

FORDS are being scrapped faster than they are being replaced in Australia.

That is one of the more interesting trends revealed in annual vehicle census released last week by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

In 2004, Australia had 1.93 million registered Fords, but that number had dropped to 1.79 million in 2008 and slipped further to 1.74 million by March this year. That is a 7.2 per cent reduction in just five years.

The only other brand whose national car parc has shrunk in the past five years is Mitsubishi, which closed its local manufacturing facility in February 2008.

Its national fleet stood at a little more than one million in 2004, but slipped below that magic mark to 965,000 in 2008 and 948,500 by 2009 – a 3.6 per cent decline in the past five years.

So what is the most common brand in Australia? It doesn’t take a MENSA member to work out that it would have to be Holden or Toyota, but picking one is tough.

After all, Toyota and Holden traded places as Australia’s top-selling brand from 1998 to 2003 when Toyota cemented the top spot that it has held ever since.

From Top: Mitsubishi Magna, Daihatsu Sirion, and Daewoo Nubria.

Back in 2004, Holden was the most common brand with a total of 2.03 million of them registered across Australia.

Ford was the second most common brand in Australia then with its 1,933,872 vehicles to Toyota’s 1,930,065.

Fast forward to the vehicle census of March 2008 and Toyota had surged into first place with 2.294 million of its cars registered across the country. Holden was second with 2.08 million, while Ford had dropped to third, a further 282,812 vehicles behind.

By 2009, Toyota has increased its car parc to 2.37 million, in front of Holden with 2.06 million and Ford with its 1.74 million.

Mitsubishi is the fourth most common model in Australia and the most popular full-line importer, in front of Nissan with 743,103 registrations.

Mazda (6th), Hyundai (7th), Honda (8th), Subaru (9th), BMW (10th), Mercedes (11th) and Suzuki (12th) have all increased the number of their cars registered in Australia by between 28 per cent and 47.1 per cent in five years from March 2005 to March 2009.

Brands to record even greater growth include Volkswagen, whose national fleet has grown from 88,399 in 2004 to 170,124 in 2009, lifting it to 13th.

Kia’s rise is even more impressive. In 2004, there were just 66,425 Kias on Australian roads. In 2009, there are 158,239, which puts it 14th overall.

Lexus has increased its sales from a 2004 base of 23,513 to 55,614 in 2009, while Audi has grown from 32,957 to 61,881 in the same period.

The longevity of a brand naturally gives it a real head-start. More Jeeps are registered in Australia than Audis (65,713 as of March 2009), while Land Rovers (62,526) and Volvos (75,242) also outrank the growing German marque.

The car parcs of Daewoo and Daihatsu are decreasing rapidly, with both brands recently pulling out of Australia. The number of registered Daewoos in Australia has dropped from 131,998 in 2004 to 114,186 in 2009, while the number of Daihatsus has dipped from 137,833 to 108,013.

At the other end of the scale, 20,124 Porches are registered in Australia compared with 18,491 in 2008 and 14,795 in 2004.