Aftershock! Holden overtakes Toyota in May

The Holden lion roared in May and the Commodore regained its position as Australia's top-selling car as Toyota -- Australia's most popular car maker for most of the past decade -- slipped from top spot for the first time in more than six years.

Preliminary figures show that General Motors' Australian outpost claimed overall market leadership in the new-car sales race last month, overtaking Toyota by just 50 vehicles (approximately 11,100 to 11,150) according to figures obtained by the Carsales Network. The official data from the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries is due out later this week.

The Commodore is also understood to have clawed back its position as the top-selling car from the Mazda3, with its year-to-date tally now exceeding the Mazda small car's total.

The May milestone will likely go down in history as a sombre victory for Holden, however, given that the results were skewed by Toyota's chronic shortage of vehicles due to the global slowdown in production since the March 11 earthquake in Japan.

Toyota sales were down 10 per cent in the first four months of this year, whereas Holden sales were down by 11 per cent for the same period.

But a blinder month in May will likely see Holden record a 20 per cent spike in sales (from 9000 to 11,000) from April to May, with the new locally-made Cruze small car a key contributor to the result.

Toyota has only just started to reboot most of its factories around the world after the Japanese earthquake, tsunami and power outages cut production to suppliers of critical car parts.

Nevertheless, it will come as a welcome result for Holden which has had a tough run in recent years as it refreshes and replaces its Korean-sourced Daewoo legacy products.

It is likely that Toyota will regain monthly market leadership in June, typically a strong month for commercial vehicles in the approach to the end of the financial year.

Toyota has led the Australian new-car market for the past eight years in a row – and still leads Holden when the first five months of this year are tallied.

The last time Holden overtook Toyota in a given month was in March 2005 (when Holden sold 11,757 cars to Toyota's unusually weak 8628), but the last time Holden overtook Toyota in a full calendar year was in 2002.

Representatives from Holden and Toyota declined to comment until the official data is released later in the week.

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