Corolla tops Commodore - again

The Toyota four cylinder eclipsed the Holden Commodore by just 35 cars last month to become the biggest seller. It is the fourth time in 18 months it has turned the tables on Holden's locally built big six. The Japanese carmaker sold 3856 Corollas versus 3891 Commodores last month.

The Corolla led a modest small car sales spike last month as buyers continue to chase economy purchases over large sedans. Apart from small cars, the latest VFACTS industry sales figures for July reveal that sportscars and off-roaders also recorded positive sales gains.

Small car sales were up 2.7 per cent in July compared to the same month last year. Sportscars increased 10.3 per cent while medium and luxury off-roaders were up 2.4 per cent and 7.2 per cent.

The FCAI's sales figures show that 75,333 vehicles were sold last month, 8643 fewer than the same month last year. Year-to-date 530,556 new vehicles have been sold, down 15 per cent or 96,115 vehicles, compared to the same period last year.

Toyota continues to dominate as sales leader. It has sold 110,897 vehicles so far this year to secure a dominate overall market share of 24 per cent. Toyota's lead is almost double that of its nearest rival, Holden with 66,418 sales with Ford in third spot with 54,239 sales.

The Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries chief executive, Andrew McKellar, said the Federal Goverment's business tax stimulus continued to have a positive knock-on effect on sales.

Despite overall sales being down 10 per cent last month compared to the same month last year, business sales remained strong, he said. There was evidence of a flow-on from the very strong June sales result with strong demand for work vehicles, he said. "Particularly from buyers accessing the business tax break on new investments," he said.

Some dealers are also reporting waiting lists of several months on certain models because of a backlog of orders on work utes and light commercial vehicles.

Top Ten sellers (July)
1 Toyota Corolla 3891
2 Holden Commodore 3856
3 Ford Falcon 2834
4. Mazda3 2785
5 Toyota HiLux 2563
6 Hyundai Getz 2147
7 Mitsubishi Lancer 2129
8 Hyundai i30 2045
9 Holden Cruze 1982
10 Toyota Camry 1717

Top Ten brands (July)
1 Toyota 16,664
2 Holden 10,266
3 Ford 7783
4 Hyundai 6226
5 Mazda 6024
6 Mitsubishi 4166
7 Nissan 3756
8 Subaru 2807
9 Honda 2657
10 Volkswagen 2361