This year has seen the market share of Commodore, Falcon and the Mitsubishi 380 fall to 19 per cent of new passenger vehicles, with only Toyota's Camry more or less immune.
And while it was the biggest sales October ever, the share enjoyed by big Australian cars was reduced to 17.2 per cent. The lighter fare from Thailand achieved a best-ever 15.4 per cent. The Vfacts monthly bulletin, released this week by the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries, recorded that 89,289 motor vehicles were sold in October; an increase of 9359 on the same month last year.
It beats the previous record for October, set in 2004, by more than 8000 sales. Year-to-date the market is up by 70,000 vehicles as it continues its charge towards breaking the one million mark for the first time.
Yet against this bumper backdrop, 15,382 Australian-made units were shifted last month, mostly to fleets.
Japanese-made cars continued their dominance but Thailand is where Honda's CR-V, Civic and Accord sedans are made. These and others, including Ford's Courier, which accounted for 13,825 sales in October.
In sharp contrast to ever-diminishing local sales, that Thai-built percentage has increased by almost 50 per cent so far in 2007.
Petrol prices are blamed for the decline of the great Australian six-cylinder. But the fact four medium-sized SUVs sold more than 1000 units each last month gives the lie to that.
Yes, light cars, spearheaded by 1193 sales of the new Mazda2, experienced a sales surge, but the truth for the big Aussies is grimmer than the rising cost of the stuff that makes them go. The fact is that given wealth of choice, fewer and fewer Australians want the types of cars made in Australia.
FCAI chief executive Andrew McKellar says the locals have never had it tougher.
“The intensely competitive situation in the motor-vehicle market is being driven to a significant degree by the ongoing strength of the Australian dollar,” he says. McKellar says 4400 Commodores (excluding utes) were moved last month, so with about 300 more sales than the Corolla, it is the nation's number-one seller.
Toyota's eggs are in more than one basket with the ever-competitive Yaris, Camry, RAV4 and Prado prominent among its 20,212 October sales. Holden managed 11,415 and Ford 8206. It was the first time that Toyota had outsold the combined total of Holden and Ford in any single month.
Year-to-date Toyota leads Holden by 71,360 with the launch of the new LandCruiser this month.
If Toyota's lead is unassailable, surely the success story is Mazda.
At number four, the leading full-imported marque sells not a single car to fleets or rental companies. They all go to private buyers.
October's best-ever 7271 sales represented Mazda's 10th record month in a row. Mazda's year-to-date total of 64,929 already surpasses its 2006 full-year sales result of 63,664.
Snapshot
Country of origin
Japan 31,838
Australia 15,382
Thailand 13,825
Korea 9830
Germany 3901
South Africa 2434
Belgium 1525
US 1448
Spain 1422
France 1206
The biggest sellers
1 Holden Commodore (Australia) 4440
2 Toyota Corolla (Japan) 4123
3 Mazda3 (Japan) 3125
4 Ford Falcon (Australia) 2439
5 Toyota Camry (Australia) 1994
6 Hyundai Getz (Korea) 1896
7 Toyota Aurion (Australia) 1831
8 Mitsubishi Lancer (Japan) 1446
9 Honda Civic (Thailand) 1409
10 Honda CR-V (Thailand) 1291
11 Toyota RAV4 (Japan) 1293
12 Toyota Prado (Japan) 1273
13 Suzuki Swift (Japan) 1197
14 Mazda2 (Japan) 1193
15 Ford Territory (Australia) 1190
16 Toyota Kluger and Subaru Forester (both Japan) 1173
17 Holden Astra (Belgium) 1118
18 Mitsubishi 380 (Australia) 1100
19 Holden Captiva (Korea) 1093
20 Nissan Tiida (Thailand) 1087
* Origin of cars sold in Australia October 2007. Source: Vfacts
