Despite the fact that some parts of the Australian economy are dragging their feet the Australian motor industry saw another great year for new car sales and over a million new vehicles were sold in Australia in 2010.
Official VFACTS data released by the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) shows that 1,035,574 passenger cars, SUVs and commercial vehicles were sold in the calendar year 2010 (up 10.5 per cent or 98,246 vehicles compared to 2009).
“This is an exceptional outcome and is the second highest result on record and only the third time ever that the market exceeded more than one million sales,” FCAI Chief Executive Andrew McKellar said.
“The result is very encouraging given all the challenges of the year – the prospect of higher interest rates, political uncertainty and the withdrawal of market stimulus,” he said.
“Consumers clearly recognised the safety and environmental benefits of upgrading to a new vehicle and in such a competitive market they were rewarded with good vehicles at good prices,” Mr McKellar said.
Looking ahead:
“We expect 2011 will be a year of consolidation with the prospect of further improvement on the growth achieved last year,” he said.
“With continuing strong levels of vehicle affordability there is no reason why the new vehicle market won’t continue to perform better than other areas of the economy,” Mr McKellar said.
Toyota was the best performing brand in 2010 for the eighth year in a row with a market share of 20.7%, ahead of Holden with 12.8% and Ford with 9.2%.
The most popular vehicle model, for the fifteenth year in a row, was the Holden Commodore; ahead of the Toyota Corolla then the Toyota Hilux.
Top Ten Models
1 Holden Commodore 45,956
2 Toyota Corolla 41,632
3 Toyota Hilux 39,896
4 Mazda 3 39,003
5 Hyundai i30 29,772
6 Ford Falcon 29,516
7 Holden Cruze 28,334
8 Toyota Camry 25,014
9 Mitsubishi Lancer 23,076
10 Hyundai Getz 21,547
Top Ten Brands
1 Toyota 214,718
2 Holden 132,923
3 Ford 95,284
4 Mazda 84,777
5 Hyundai 80,038
6 Nissan 62,676
7 Mitsubishi 62,496
8 Honda 40,375
9 Subaru 40,025
10 Volkswagen 38,016