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NEWS
Hyundai closing in on Mazda
Fewer than 3000 units separate fourth-placed importer from a podium finishHyundai has enjoyed 24 consecutive months of year-on-year sales growth with its May result.
Results made available to motoring.com.au ahead of official VFACTS figures tomorrow reveal that the fourth-placed importer outsold all rivals other than Toyota and Holden, notching up 8403 sales – versus 7751 for Mazda. Hyundai's year-to-date (YTD) sales figure is just shy of 40,000 at 39,589. That's 1524 clear of the 38,065 figure for the same period in 2013. Last year, as of the end of May, Hyundai was 4655 sales behind Mazda. This year that gap has narrowed to 2947.
Top selling car for Hyundai was the i30, which peaked at 2553 sales last month. Combined with Elantra sales of 832, the small-car duo in Hyundai's range outsold the Mazda3 for the month.
Mazda remains in third place for the year to date, and its Mazda3 small car is comfortably ahead of the Toyota Corolla – last year's most popular car – but the Corolla did pull ahead of the Mazda during last month's sales race. The Corolla sold 3871 units in May for a YTD tally of 17,518, whereas the Mazda sold 3291, adding to the YTD figure of 18,465.
Toyota is the front-runner in YTD sales, as well as sales for last month. Holden placed second last month and remains second in YTD sales.
Both the leading companies build cars in Australia, but they and Ford will pack up their respective manufacturing operations within roughly a three-year timeframe. Despite the prospect of a facelifted model next year and its eventual demise as a locally-built product, Camry has sold in slightly higher numbers for the year so far. Aurion sales, in contrast, have plummeted by a third of the score for the first five months of 2013.
Holden's YTD figure is ahead of last year's – and mostly with thanks to the local product. Caprice sales (511) are 73.2 per cent ahead, Commodore (13,199) is up 61.8 per cent, and the Ute (2433) is 13.6 per cent higher. The difference is largely a question of new product released in the period between May last year and January this year. VF has been selling strongly – although not strongly enough for Holden to re-think its decision to pull out of Aussie manufacturing. Last month the Commodore sold 2648 units, but that was well ahead of May last year – the final days of VE Commodore – when the car sold just 1647 units in run-out.
Holden's locally-built product, other than the Cruze, has shamed its imported line-up. Barina, Barina Spark, Captiva 5 & 7, Colorado 7 and Volt are all posting lower sales numbers than they did during the same period last year. Only the Colorado LCV range is selling stronger. Cruze is 2864 sales behind last year's YTD figure (7261 in 2014, against 10,125 in 2013).
In Ford's case, only the newer product is performing better this year than in 2013. With a new Falcon and updated Territory due near the end of this year, allied with a natural reluctance to buy Falcon so close to the end of production, the large sedan has sold just 3010 units this year so far after five months. That's 891 or 22.8 per cent less than last year. Once upon a time, Ford dealers and management would have been wringing their hands if the Falcon failed to sell more than 3000 units in a single month. The Falcon is still being outsold by the Territory, despite the SUV's YTD sales tumbling by 1990 units to 3944. Falcon ute has also taken a dive, dropping to 1182 YTD – a fall of 688 units or 36.8 per cent.
But it's not just the local product that's letting Ford down, Fiesta and Focus have both failed to meet the expectations set by their sales performance last year. At 3031 units sold YTD, the Fiesta is 856 units behind (22 per cent down). And selling 7218 units YTD, the Focus is 1175 units or 14 per cent below its 2013 figure. Neither import sold stronger last month than in May 2013.
Curiously, the aging Mondeo – 1388 units YTD – is 369 units or 36.2 per cent ahead. The Kuga SUV and the Ranger LCV are also selling better than for the first five months of last year.
It's not only the local manufacturers suffering however. Honda continues to struggle, losing over 6000 sales YTD; Kia and Mazda are both slightly behind (by less than 200 units each); Mitsubishi is over 3600 units astern of last year's figure; Nissan is down nearly 10,000 units and Subaru's 2014 YTD figure is just over 400 units lower than 2013's.
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Written byCarsales Staff
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