Toyota Australia Punches Above Weight Globally

Toyota may sell many more cars in the U.S. than in Australia, but a closer look at the raw numbers reveals the Japanese automaker is stronger Down Under.

Toyota Australia says figures released by its parent company show it sold 8.9 cars for every 1,000 Australians in 2016, compared with 7.5 per 1,000 Americans. The totals include Toyota’s Lexus luxury brand.

Toyota Australia also outsells countries with much larger population bases, Tony Cramb, executive director-sales and marketing, says in a statement.

Australians bought 218,738 Toyota and Lexus vehicles last year, 946 more than were sold in Canada and almost 100,000 more than were delivered in the U.K. Customers Down Under also outnumbered those in any other European country, Brazil or the Philippines.

The U.S. was Toyota’s biggest-volume market last year with almost 2.5 million sales, or 7.5 vehicles per 1,000 people. The home market of Japan recorded 1.6 million sales or 12.5 vehicles for every 1,000 people, followed by China with 1.21 million or 0.9 vehicles per 1,000.

Last year marked the 14th straight year of market leadership for Toyota in Australia and the second consecutive year of record sales for Lexus.

“The incredible loyalty shown by Australian motorists over more than half a century has enabled us to achieve a dominant share of the local market and to be placed among the strongest sales countries in the Toyota world,” Cramb says.

Ranked by Toyota/Lexus sales per 1,000 residents, Japan, Australia and the U.S. were followed by Saudi Arabia (7.0) and Canada (5.9), the automaker says.