Fast start to new year

VFACTS has announced a total Australian new vehicle market of 82,270 units for the month of January 2008. According to the industry statistician, 213 more cars were sold per selling day in January 2008 than in January 2007.

Plainly, new car buyers weren't hanging out on the beach or fishing by a river during January, preferring the air-conditioned comfort of dealer showrooms, yet there's reason to think that fleet buyers did take a break during January (more here).

In the light car segment, Toyota remained at the forefront, with 2433 sales of Yaris for the month; slightly down Year-on-Year (YOY) with the 2498 figure for January 2007. It was well ahead of the Mazda2 (1442 units sold), which is nonetheless a major improvement YOY (557) on the old model.

Coming in third was the Honda Jazz (1395 units sold, compared with 1261 YOY). Nowhere to be seen was the Hyundai Getz.

Making a good start was the Nissan Micra on 553 units.

Top three sellers for light cars over $25,000 were the Peugeot 207 (182 units), Citroen C3 (48) and Fiat Punto (26).

In small cars, Toyota Corolla was the top selling car across all segments, with a tally of 3843 units sold -- almost 400 units better, YOY. Market share was up in a market segment that had correspondingly risen, but Corolla had accounted for most of the segment's improved fortunes YOY.

Mazda3 scored 2915 units sold, a bit of backsliding compared with the YOY figure for January '07 of 3347 units. Ford's Focus placed third, with sales of 1823 units -- a YOY improvement of almost 200 units.

Down the ladder a few places, Holden's Astra (1380 units sold -- and a major disappointment after 2239 sales for January '07) -- still outsold the Holden Viva on 789 units.

For the small cars above $40,000, the top three were Audi A3 (230 units), BMW 1 Series (165) and MINI Cooper (155).

Camry was the leading medium car for the month and, with sales of 1385 in January, the Toyota's YOY performance was comparable with the January '07 figure of 1343.

Relatively close behind was the Mazda6, now in run-out, selling 1070 units for the month -- also quite close in YOY comparison with the 1107 sold in January last year.

Subaru's Liberty notched up 707 units for the month, a slight improvement YOY on the 662 units sold in January 2007.

For medium cars priced above $60,000, the top three were the C-Class Mercedes-Benz (760 units sold), BMW 3 Series (441) and Audi A4 (338). The Benz has jumped very nearly 400 units over the January '07 figure of 361 units, proving that C-Class buyers were anticipating the introduction of the W204 model a long way out.

Holden's Commodore was the top selling large car with 3210 units sold for the month. This figure was about 200 units down on the January '07 figure of 3474 and left the top-selling car spot open for Corolla to take.

The Toyota Aurion (1266 units sold) narrowly pipped the Ford Falcon (1252 units) for the month and Ford must be hoping desperately that the mega-value meal-type limited edition Falcon SR released in February will clear a lot of BF stock ahead of the launch of the Orion model in April.

Aurion was slightly ahead on a YOY basis, but the Falcon had gone backwards by over 700 units YOY.

In large cars over $70,000, BMW's 5 Series sold 124, the Mercedes-Benz E-Class accounted for 79 sales (less than half the number sold in January '07) and Audi A6 took third place in the segment with 51 cars sold.

Holden's Statesman and Caprice siblings continued on their merry way in the upper large car segment, with the WM models accruing 281 units for the month (159 for Caprice, 122 for Statesman). In third place, the Chrysler 300C picked up 97 sales for the month, a slide of 80 units on a YOY basis. Ford's Fairlane recorded 21 cars sold and the LTD, just two.

In upper large cars above $100,000, the top three were Mercedes-Benz S-Class (23 units sold), Lexus LS (20) and BMW 7 Series (16).

The top selling people mover was the Honda Odyssey, with 272 units for the month, followed by Kia Carnival (243) and Toyota Tarago (207). Only the Tarago showed a YOY improvement, with just 152 sold in January '07. The entire segment was 185 units down YOY.

For people movers above $55,000, the top three were Chrysler Voyager (32 units sold), Volkswagen Multivan (23) and Mercedes-Benz Viano (8).

Volkswagen's Eos looks set to continue topping the sports car segment, with 191 sales during January '08 -- about 180 more than January '07, for what that's worth.

Holden's Astra Convertible recorded 74 units sold for the month, taking second spot and the Mazda MX-5 recorded 61 -- around 58 units less than January '07.

Sports cars priced above $80,000 saw the BMW 3 Series (215 units) in the lead, followed by Audi's TT (171 units sold) and Mercedes-Benz CLK (101 for the month).

Over $200,000, the top three sports cars were the Porsche 911 (61 units sold for the month), Maserati (24) and Ferrari (20), no doubt making Ateco Automotive fairly pleased, since the company distributes both the Italian marques.

Holiday-makers planning to go bush must have left their run late, buying over 1600 more compact SUVs during January than they did in January '07.

Top seller in the segment was the Honda CR-V (1575), a phenomenal improvement of nearly 1000 units, YOY (614 sold in January 2007).

Subaru's Forester, selling 1395 units in January '08 (also up on the January '07 figure -- 1079), pipped the Toyota RAV4 (1135 units) to second.

Medium SUVs also showed substantial sales improvement, YOY.

The top seller was the Toyota Prado on 1199 units sold, slightly down on the January '07 figure of 1225 units. However, Ford's Territory, which topped the segment in January '07 with 1343 units sold, has slipped back to 1099 units for last month, handing top spot to the Toyota.

Holden's Captiva is catching the Ford too. With the diesel engine introduced around the middle of last year, the Holden registered 1038 units sold last month, versus just 577 units of the petrol models in January '07.

Nothing changes with the large SUVs: it remains Toyota LandCruiser (899 units), Nissan Patrol (396) and Jeep Commander (30). Only the Jeep sold fewer units YOY. The Toyota benefits to the tune of an extra 183 units by the availability of the new 200 Series model, but the Patrol also added 52 units, YOY.

Sales of luxury SUVs also climbed, compared YOY. The top-selling vehicle in the segment was the BMW X5 (263), followed by Lexus RX (183) and Land Rover Discovery (172). Both the Land Rover and the BMW have improved substantially on a YOY basis, but the Lexus, which sold 208 units last year, has lost momentum.

No great news in the van segment, with Toyota HiAce recording 744 sales for the month, ahead of Mitsubishi Express (236) and Ford Transit (164). Transit has bounced back a bit YOY (132 sold January '07), but that improvement is put in its proper perspective by the HiAce performance, a major improvement YOY from the 536 units sold in January '07.

Toyota also dominated the 4x2 pick-up/cab-chassis segment, with the HiLux recording 1352 sales for the month. Holden's Ute scored 932, which is a 236-unit gain on January '07, when Holden was still selling the VZ models.

In third place came the Ford Ranger on 734 units for the month, fully 572 units better than January '07. That more than makes up for the Falcon's slide from 834 units last year to 664 last month.

4x4 pick-ups and cab chassis models were led by HiLux again (1668 units, nearly 200 better, YOY). Second place went to Nissan's Navara on 1212, soon to benefit from the reintroduction of the old D22 models to supplement the D40 series (more here).

Bringing up third was the Mitsubishi Triton on 741 units -- as with the HiLux, a similar YOY improvement of 261 units.

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