Oz LV Sales Top 1 Million for Third Time in 2014

It was a mixed year for the Australian new-vehicle industry with annual sales topping 1 million units for only the third time, but the overall market down 2%.

Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries data puts the full-year total at 1,113,224 units, the second-highest result ever, as the battle to be the year’s best-selling model saw Toyota’s Corolla edge out the Mazda3 by just 422 units – 43,735 to 43,313.

Further highlighting the rise of small cars, the Hyundai i30 finished in fourth place, in between the Toyota Hilux pickup (38,126) and the Holden Commodore (30,203) sedan.

The year ended with a 0.1% December sales uptick to 96,809 units.

For the full year, car deliveries fell 6.1% to 531,596 units, while SUV sales rose 5.6% to 352,347 and light-commercial vehicles dropped 3.2% to 197,956.

FCAI CEO Tony Weber says SUV sales continued to boom in 2014, with the vehicle type now accounting for 31.7% of the market.

“SUVs and light-commercial vehicles now account for almost 50% of new-car sales in Australia,” Weber says in a statement. “Passenger-car sales have dropped 6.1% to hold 47.8% of the market.”

In a down market, only Hyundai and Subaru showed sales increases among the top-10 brands.

Toyota comfortably topped the market despite falling 5.2% to 203,501 deliveries, ahead of GM Holden, down 5.3% to 106,092. Mazda followed, off 2.4% to 100,704 units, just ahead of Hyundai, up 3.1% to 100,011, and Ford, down 8.6% to 79,703.

Sixth-place Mitsubishi fell 5.0% to 68,637 units, followed by Nissan (down 14.0% to 66,025), Volkswagen (off 0.2% to 54,801), Subaru (up 0.8% to 40,200) and Honda (down 0.8% to 32,998).

Toyota finished the year with an 18.3% market share, ahead of GM Holden (9.5%), Mazda (9.0%), Hyundai (9.0%) and Ford (7.2%). The Japanese automaker led the market for a 12^th straight year and 18th time overall while marking a 10th consecutive year of 200,000-plus deliveries.

Toyota was the top-selling brand in the three sectors that define the market, selling 92,132 cars, 56,663 SUVs and 54,706 LCVs. It was Toyota’s 36th consecutive year as market leader in CV sales.

Tony Cramb, sales and marketing executive director-Toyota Australia, says the automaker cut its prices Jan. 1, two weeks ahead of the official Jan. 15 elimination of the 5% vehicle import duties negotiated as part of the Australia-Japan free-trade agreement.

GM Holden says its second-place finish was driven by strong SUV, pickup and VF Commodore sales.

Mazda new-vehicle deliveries topped 100,000 for a third straight year and for the second year in a row the automaker had the nation’s top-selling SUV nameplate. The CX-5 sold a record 1,717 units in December to give the SUV a full-year total up 7.2% at 21,571.

Hyundai’s fourth-place ranking came as it raised deliveries to a record 100,011 units in 2014. It finished second in car sales with 71,213 units, up 1.4%, ahead of Mazda, GM Holden, Honda and Volkswagen.

Mitsubishi Australia had a strong finish to the year, achieving its best-ever December result as a pure importer with sales up 10.9% to 7,438 units.

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles Australia had its best year on record with sales climbing 26.9% to 43,100 units. The result left FCA as the ninth-best-selling manufacturer list, up from 11^th in 2013.

It was the best year yet for both Chrysler, Jeep and Dodge (33,600 units) and Fiat, Alfa Romeo (9,500 units). FCA Australia President and CEO Pat Dougherty says the 2014 result is even more impressive because it follows a similarly improvement in 2013.

Subaru, which has achieved record annual sales for 15 of the past 17 years, did so again in 2014 and was the only mainstream Japanese brand to outperform the market.

Among the star performers were the new-generation WRX and WRX STI, whose combined sales of 3,554 units were a 91.6% increase over 2013.