March VFACTS: Corolla beats Mazda3

Toyota Australia sold more than 4000 Corollas last month, aided by the first full month of new Corolla sedan sales, to defeat the Mazda3 for the first time this year – and the new Mazda3 in its first month on sale.

According to preliminary figures obtained ahead of tomorrow’s official VFACTS results from the FCAI, the Corolla’s strong 4086 sales figure (up about 600 on the same month last year) was good enough to eclipse the Mazda3’s 3587 sales (down about 200) in March.

However, Mazda’s new small car still leads Australia’s overall new-vehicle sales race so far this year by almost 2000 vehicles, with 12,117 Mazda3s sold (up seven per cent) versus 10,332 Corolla sales (up 13 per cent).

motoring.com.au understands current models accounted for the vast majority of both Corolla and Mazda3 registrations, with the last run-out sales of both superseded models occurring in March.

But given March – the final month of the Japanese financial year -- is traditionally a big month for both brands, the level of dealer discounting for either model remains unclear.

While the total new-vehicle market continued its gradual 2014 sales decline in March, Toyota remained easily on top of the monthly and year-to-date sales charts, helped by the HiLux (3104 sales – enough for third overall last month), while the RAV4 (1888), Prado (1719) and Camry (2086) were also among the nation’s 10 most popular models.

Holden sales surged by 19 per cent to beat Mazda to second place in March by about 650 sales, aided by the third-best sales result for the VF Commodore since its mid-2013 launch.

Excluding 543 Utes, 2966 Commodore sales were 85 per cent up on the once-dominant model’s second-worst monthly result ever in March 2013 (1606), but still down on the March 2012 figure of 3200.

Still, the Commodore fared better than both Ford’s Falcon (641 plus 271 utes) and Toyota’s Aurion (263) in the nation’s collapsing large-car segment.

Holden’s March sales lift was helped by attractive retail incentives, yet the locally built Cruze small car found just 1620 homes – down about 30 per cent on March 2013 and 50 per cent on March 2012 – to finish outside the top-10 sellers.

In fact, Holden sold almost 1150 fewer Cruzes than the Hyundai i30 hatch (2767). Combined with 711 Elantra sedan sales, Hyundai sold 3478 small cars last month – just over 100 less than the Mazda3.

In Australia’s largest sales segment, the Corolla led the Mazda3, i30, Cruze, Ford Focus, Volkswagen Golf and Nissan Pulsar last month.

Mazda sold more than 9000 cars for the third month this year to be slightly up year-on-year, with the Mazda3 aided by the CX-5, which again topped the mid-size SUV segment with 1932 sales, and the Mazda2, which continued to lead the Hyundai i20 and Toyota Yaris in the light-car class.

Last month Hyundai was fourth ahead of Ford, which sold about 900 homegrown Territorys and 2300 Rangers, to be up about 200 units year-to-date, followed by Nissan, Mitsubishi, Volkswagen, Subaru and Kia.

Honda fell outside the top 10 in March and, like Nissan and Mitsubishi, its sales remain down significantly so far this year. It’s understood all three brands continue to clear stock registered in December, when Mitsubishi posted a 65 per cent sales spike.

Top 10 models in March:
Toyota Corolla – 4086
Mazda3 – 3587
Toyota HiLux – 3104
Holden Commodore – 2966
Hyundai i30 – 2767
Ford Ranger – 2300
Toyota Camry – 2086
Mazda CX-5 – 1932
Toyota RAV4 – 1888
Toyota Prado – 1719

Top 10 brands in March:
Toyota – 18,277
Holden – 9851
Mazda – 9203
Hyundai – 8606
Ford – 7037
Nissan – 6078
Mitsubishi – 5444
Volkswagen – 4608
Subaru – 3812
Kia – 2763