August VFACTS: Top 10 change chairs

August sales promise to keep the Australian market on track for a record year in 2017, according to information received ahead of the official announcement by VFACTS on Tuesday next week.

An anonymous source has told motoring.com.au that last month's sales numbers are expected to lift the year to date sales for 2017 beyond the figure of 784,380 vehicles sold up to the end of August 2016 – and last year concluded with a sales record of 1,178,133 vehicles. If 2017 remains on track, there will be yet another record set, come the end of December.

Individual performances from the top 10 car companies during August have elevated Mitsubishi into fifth place, displacing Ford, which has seen sales fall behind this year, despite the success of the Focus RS, Mustang and Ranger 4x4. The loss of the locally-manufactured Falcon and Territory is believed to have cumulatively cost Ford over 6000 sales this year – so far.

Mitsubishi has been stalking Ford throughout the year, with its SUV range in particular hauling in Ford. August sales were up about 8.5 per cent and after consistent monthly sales increases this year Mitsubishi sales are up by more the 3500 units or 7.2 per cent so far this year.

With the August sales collated, Nissan has slipped from seventh position to 10th. Dropping most of its passenger-car range has hurt the importer badly during August, with a concomitant impact on its year-to-date sales. The company's SUVs are stagnant, and the light commercial vehicles are not piling on the sales either.

Volkswagen has slid into the gap left by Nissan, last month adding nearly 1000 sales to the number for August 2016. Most of those extra sales were from Tiguan buyers, although Amarok 4x4 had a good month also, and Golf picked up as well.

Subaru enjoyed an even better month than Volkswagen, gaining over 1200 sales in August – mostly Impreza and XV. Like Volkswagen, Subaru has moved up three places.

Kia dropped back from eighth to ninth, not because it had a bad month, but simply because it was up against two other brands that had a ripper month. Even so, Kia's sales for August were only about 70 units behind Subaru and nearly 800 more than for August 2016. Most of Kia's models performed better than a year earlier, with only Optima sales down.

Of the top four, Toyota's sales were slightly reduced last month, but the company is still the nation's most popular brand by a country mile. The company's HiLux LCV (pictured) is believed to be the country's best-selling vehicle last month, with over 4000 units sold.

Mazda, in second place, watched as sales fell back last month, year on year, but it remains ahead of third-placed Hyundai by around 15,000 units. Hyundai's sales in August gained ground to the tune of around 1300 units, with Accent, i30 and Tucson all playing a part in that.

Holden stays put in fourth place, and with the exception of Caprice, locally-made product actually sold better last month than in August 2016. Sales of Astra last month nearly compensated for the end of Cruze production, but still struggled a couple of hundred units in arrears, which was true of the Spark also, and Captiva. The SUV is probably in runout by now, which will leave Holden waiting anxiously for the arrival of Equinox in a few months' time.