Mazda3 Tarnishes Toyota’s January Oz Sales Crown

Toyota is claiming its best start to the year since 2012 despite its Corolla being deposed by the Mazda3 as Australia’s top-selling car in January.

The country’s new-vehicle market saw deliveries slip 0.2% last month to 82,116 units, down from 82,285 year-ago.

Light-commercial-vehicle sales dipped 0.3% to 12,958, and car sales were off 4.3% at 39,799, but SUV sales improved 6.9% to 27,679.

January had the same amount of selling days as a year ago, resulting in a drop of 6.8 vehicle sales a day.

The January volume also was down 15.2% from December’s 96,809 deliveries.

Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries CEO Tony Weber says the trend toward SUV purchases is showing no sign of slowing. Small SUV deliveries jumped 17.9% to 7,272, while medium SUVs climbed 9.5% to 9,936.

“SUVs now represent 33.7% of the market and we expect this trend to continue as we move through 2015,” Weber says in a statement.

Toyota snagged a big early lead in the annual sales race, delivering 13,661 units during the month, little changed from prior-year’s 13,646. Second-place Mazda slipped to 9,006 deliveries from 9,411 a year earlier.

GM Holden followed with 8,401 sales, down from 8,871, and Hyundai dropped to 6,901 from 7,152. Fifth-place Ford saw deliveries slide to 5,387 from 6,804 in like-2014.

Mazda3 was the top-selling model in January with 3,903 units, ahead of the Toyota Corolla (3,472), Toyota Hilux (2,331), Hyundai i30 (2,092) and Holden Cruze (1,870).

Business volume appears to have steadied, despite continued uncertainty about the effectiveness of the beleaguered federal government, with sales down 0.5% year-on-year. Private sales edged up 0.8%, but government purchases were down 4.4%.

Toyota says the 15-unit year-on-year sales gain gave it its best January result in three years, lifting its market share to 16.6%.

Tony Cramb, executive director-sales and marketing, says Toyota’s start puts it well-positioned to achieve its sales objectives for 2015.

“Toyota is on the cusp of one of its busiest launch periods, with at least 10 new or refreshed models to be introduced over the next 12 months,” Cramb says in a statement. “(It) gives Toyota confidence of surpassing 200,000 (Australian) sales for the 11th time.”

Mazda’s 9,006 deliveries gave it an 11% market share and maintained its position as the country’s leading full-line import brand.

Noting Mazda3’s market-leading result, the automaker says in the 12 full months since its launch, 42,655 units have been sold in Australia for an average of more than 3,500 a month.