Holden Commodore sales up 85 per cent

HOLDEN’S doomed Commodore continued on the comeback trail by recording an impressive sales gain of almost 85 per cent in March compared with the same month last year, official VFACTS figures released today reveal.

The latest VF Commodore, which is set to go out of local production in 2017, notched 2967 sales last month in the local hero’s best monthly performance since November last year.

The performance not only gave Holden an 18.9 cent lift in overall sales but also single-handedly continued to reverse the terminal decline in large car volumes.

But it was arch rival Toyota that continued to dominate the market, landing five vehicles in the Australian automotive sales top 10 last month, led by its best-selling Corolla small car that displaced arch rival Mazda3 from the top spot in March.

Toyota’s HiLux ute, locally made Camry sedan and RAV4 and Prado SUVs also made it into the top 10 as the Japanese company scored class victories in eight segments, despite a 2.0 per cent slip in overall Toyota sales.

The VFACTS figures show that the motor vehicle market steadied in March after a shaky start to the year, with monthly sales declining just 0.1 per cent over the same month last year, to 97,267 units.

Year to date, the market is now down 2.4 per cent, but still on pace for a million-vehicle-plus performance after the first quarter.

The SUV segment was again the star of the show, with sales up 5.6 per cent for the month, mainly at the expense of passenger cars, sales of which fell 3.3 per cent.

From top: Toyota Corolla sedan, Mazda3, Toyota HiLux, Holden Commodore, Hyundai i30 and Ford Ranger.

The large car segment, which has recorded year-on-year declines for years, also perked up to the tune of 24.5 per cent, thanks entirely to the Commodore.

While all of its direct competitors stalled, the big Holden grabbed an unprecedented 75.5 per cent of the larger car segment to lift sales in this class by 25.5 per cent for the month.

Year to date, large car sales are up 16.5 per cent – a rare feat in this bracket.

However, the Commodore could still only manage fourth spot on the vehicle leadership board in March, behind the Corolla (4086), Mazda3 (3587) and HiLux (3105).

According to Toyota, Corolla’s big performance last month – its best March on record – was driven by the arrival of the new Thai-built sedan, which made up about a third of all Corolla sales.

While Corolla won the March battle, the Mazda3 is still winning the war, holding a 12,117 to 10,332 lead over the small Toyota.

Market leader Toyota’s overall sales remained steady on 18,275 units, and year to date it is now running just 0.2 per cent behind 2013 after one quarter.

Second-placed Holden is up 10.7 per cent after three months, while major importers Mazda and Hyundai are up 3.9 and 3.7 per cent respectively.

Like Holden, Ford also made something of recovery, with March sales rising 9.4 per cent, to 7037 vehicles, to stem its losses this year to 3.0 per cent.

The Blue Oval’s best performer was its locally designed, Thai-built Ranger ute, which was the nations’ sixth best-selling vehicle with 2300 sales, placing second in the light truck market behind Toyota’s dominant HiLux (3105).

Mazda had the top-selling SUV in March, with its medium-sized CX-5 (1932 units) outpacing Toyota’s dynamic duo, the RAV4 (1888) and Prado (1719) which both had stellar months.

The big losers among mainstream car-makers were again Nissan and Honda, with sales down 28.5 per cent and 40.9 per cent respectively over March last year and continuing their slide in 2014.

Among the big winners is Jeep, with a sales gain of 32.3 per cent, even though Toyota’s Prado outsold the Jeep Grand Cherokee last month.

Top 10 selling brands March 2014

Rank	Brand	Sales	% Variation
1	Toyota	18,275	-2.0
2	Holden	9851	18.9
3	Mazda	9203	1.0
5	Hyundai	8606	2.4
4	Ford	7037	9.4
6	Nissan	6014	-28.5
7	Mitsubishi	5435	5.5
8	Volkswagen	4613	7.3
9	Subaru	3812	-9.6
10	Kia	2762	4.5

Top 10 selling models March 2014

Rank	Model	Sales
1	Toyota Corolla	4086
2	Mazda3	3587
3	Toyota HiLux	3105
4	Holden Commodore	2967
5	Hyundai i30	2767
6	Ford Ranger	2300
7	Toyota Camry	2085
8	Mazda CX-5	1932
9	Toyota RAV4	1888
10	Toyota Prado	1719