Toyota tops October car sales

However, the Holden Commodore was the top-selling model and now holds more than half the large-car market.  The 3787 new Commodores sold last month was nearly 10 per cent up on October last year while Australian-made large car rivals Ford Falcon (2258 sales) was more than 20 per cent down and Toyota Aurion (just 785 sales) a whopping 45 per cent down from October last year.

Vfacts figures issued yesterday by the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries show that Holden Commodore is the only one of the three leading Australian-made cars to do better in year-to-date sales compared with last year.

It meant Commodore accounted for just over half (51 per cent) of the large-car market, Holden's sales and marketing executive director John Elsworth said yesterday.  The company's Cruze currently is an imported model and again figured in the top-10 selling cars in Australia las month.

"Next year will be an exciting time for Holden," Mr Elsworth said. "Our Australian-made line-up will grow next year to include the Cruze sedan and hatchback, making Cruze the only Australian-built small car when its starts to roll off the production line along side Commodore in 2011."

The FCAI said total October new-vehicle sales were 80,925, on par with the same month last year, a drop in passenger car sales offset by a rise in demand for SUVs. The year-to-date total of 861,645 new vehicles is 13 per cent up on the first 10 months last year and heading for a one-million tally for this calendar year.

Toyota easily remains most popular brand, its 16,329 sales last month 60 per cent greater than any other brand, helped by HiLux and Corolla being second and third to Commodore.

"Toyota is now positioned to finish the year with more than 200,000 sales a level never achieved by any other car company in Australia," Toyota sales and marketing executive director David Buttner said.

Top 10 selling models last month

(with year-to-date in brackets)
1. Holden Commodore 3787 (38,407)
2. Toyota HiLux 3001 (33,128)
3. Toyota Corolla 2803 (32,144)
4. Mazda3 2556 (32,604)
5. Ford Falcon 2258 (25,209)
6. Hyundai i30 2165 (26,014)
7. Holden Cruze 2135 (23,532)
8. Toyota Camry 1924 (19,456)
9. Mitsubishi Lancer 1752 (20,062)
10. Hyundai Getz 1575 (18,388)

Source: Vfacts, Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries