Carsales Staff•12 Jan 2013

NEWS

The wooden spooners of 2012

Tanking or just untalented? Here are the cars that rarely popped up on shopping lists last year

Society is always fascinated by winners: the heroes and champions, the sporting legends, the visionary statesmen and the captains of industry.

Media outlets – including motoring.com.au – report their every master stroke, every tactical advantage played... and not least of all when the high achiever is one of life's underdogs.

But what about the other end of the scale? Forget top ten lists and the dux of the class, why should those who try and try again – without success – not also be acknowledged?

Let's take the local new-car market for instance. According to VFACTS the Aussie market was strong in 2012. The final result set a new record, in fact. But in every segment there was typically one car that struggled against the odds – yet the odds won out. Let's look at them in detail...

In the light car segment the Opel Corsa found just 65 customers for 2012 – but was only on sale for a fraction of the year. Proton's Satria attracted 69 buyers for the year, but is no longer appearing on the company's public website, so it's effectively discontinued – and therefore in runout.

So the TB ('true battler') in the segment was the smart fortwo, of which 142 were sold for the year.

For cars above $25,000, the Renault Clio, currently in runout ahead of a new model, warrants a dishonourable mention for finding just 69 homes during the year, but the TB must be the Fiat Abarth 500, which secured 85 sales – probably not helped by the change of distribution from Ateco Automotive to Fiat Chrysler during the year.

In the small car segment Skoda's Roomster has sold just 41 units for the year, but is disqualified by having been on sale for just a matter of months – after reintroduction to the market.

The battle for TB in this segment was closely contested. We were inclined to hand the 'atrophy' to Chery and its J3, which notched up only 173 sales for the year. The Chinese brand might have sold significantly better in this country if it had been fitted with electronic stability control, thus allowing it to be sold in Victoria, the second largest car-buying region in the country.

We're not averse to awarding the TB for slack engineering and poor product planning and marketing, but that's offset by the thinking that the J3 would have collected more than 15 sales in Victoria if it had been available in the southern state during 2012.

So the TB atrophy goes to Proton's Gen.2, which racked up just 188 sales during the year – nationally.

For small cars above $40,000 the Nissan LEAF (77 sold in 2012) is the bottom dweller, with a dishonourable mention for the Holden Volt, which found just three units more (80). Little wonder these cars have failed to find a larger market share, given they're both alternative-energy vehicles and are expensive for what they offer buyers. The expensive technology sets the price, but that doesn't excuse the up-front cost, as buyers see it.

Mercedes-Benz sold just 30 units of the new A-Class last year, but 29 of those were sold in December, so it is disqualified by virtue of not being officially on sale, and for the same reason as the Roomster – insufficient time in the market.

The medium car segment provided some head-scratching moments. Holden sold some 15 Epicas last year, but the car no longer appears on the company's public website and none were sold in December, so we argue it wasn't on sale for the whole year in 2012, although Holden dealers may still have some new models in dealer stock, for all we know. Still, the Epica doesn't get a look-in for TB.

Saab sold 12 of its 9-3s last year, but given that company's unfortunate trajectory you wouldn't say the 9-3 had a fully functional sales and marketing team supporting it for the full year. It's amazing to us that even 12 were sold.

Volvo sold just four of the new V40 – which isn't even officially released here yet, and all four were sold in December – so it's excluded from the running.

Volvo's V70 found 32 customer hands, but we don't know why it's in the volume-selling medium segment when the T6-engined car we tested back in 2008 was priced above $60,000 – the cut-off point beyond which the segment is classified as prestige medium cars. Since Volvo doesn't even publish official pricing for the V70 it seems to be a car very much available to special order only – and we're not convinced it should even appear in this VFACTS segment.

But Volvo has scored the TB in this segment anyway... for the under-promoted V50 wagon, which is probably due to shuffle off this mortal coil once the V40 hatch arrives. It has been in de facto run-out for the past six months, but that doesn't excuse its full 12-month result of just 106 cars sold – only marginally worse than its 2011 tally of 115.

For medium cars priced above $60,000 we would have settled on the phantom V70, as noted above, but VFACTS doesn't recognise that car's existence in this segment. The Citroen DS5 sold 33 units last year, flying in the face of reduced support from Ateco as the handover of the Citroen concession to – presumably – Sime Darby approaches. Given the DS5 hasn't been on sale in Australia for long, or with the right sort of specification, 33 cars sold marks a curious level of interest in the model and bodes reasonably well for its future.

So the car in this segment that scores the TB is the sadly under-appreciated Lexus IS F, selling just 80 cars last year. Lexus never forecast sales much above 10 units a month for the hot-rod IS, but 80 for the year doesn't even match that. A new model on the horizon may change things for the better.

And so we come to the large-car segment – the one a lot of Australians care about. This one was easy to sort out. Hyundai sold one Grandeur for the year, but since the Korean marque has walked away from that model for the foreseeable future, you might as well call the Grandeur discontinued from very early on – and therefore disqualified from consideration for the TB.

The car that took out the TB gong is one we actually like a lot and one that has received more than a little praise from motoring journalists around the country. But with just 653 sold for the year, confronting looks and a brand name that either continues to be mistrusted or remains an unknown quantity in the marketplace, the TB in the large car segment is the Skoda Superb.

Above $70,000, Citroen sold three examples of the C6, which is discontinued, and Saab sold seven of its new 9-5s (collectability ensured?). Infiniti sold 21 units of the M sedan, but wasn't in the country during the first half of 2012; so the TB, for sales of just 22 over the 12-month period, is awarded to the Honda Legend.

There is no TB awarded for upper large cars to $100,000, because the only two competitors (Chrysler 300 and Holden Caprice) both generated more than 1000 registrations and were within 300 sales of each other – a good effort from both models. For the record, the Caprice (1460) outsold the Chrysler (1206).

For upper large cars above $100,000, the Lexus LS is the unworthy recipient, selling 11 cars for the year – half that of Rolls-Royce with 22 sales.

Full results* are listed below:

Light cars – smart fortwo (142 sales)

Light cars >$25,000 – Fiat Abarth 500 (85 sales)

Small cars – Proton Gen.2 (188 sales)

Small cars >$40,000 – Nissan LEAF (77 sales)

Medium cars – Volvo V50 (106 sales)

Medium cars >$60,000 – Lexus IS F (80 sales)

Large cars – Skoda Superb (653 sales)

Large cars >$70,000 – Honda Legend (22 sales)

Upper large cars – not awarded

Upper large cars >$100,000 – Lexus LS (11 sales)

People movers – Ssangyong Stavic (37 sales)

People movers >$55,000 – Chrysler Voyager (153 sales)

Sports – Peugeot 308 CC (94 sales)

Sports >$80,000 – Lotus Exige (two sales)

Sports >$200,000 – Lamborghini Gallardo Spyder (four sales)

SUV small – Suzuki Jimny (958 sales)

SUV small >$40,000 – MINI Countryman (516 sales)

SUV medium – SsangYong Kyron (55 sales)

SUV medium >$60,000 – Land Rover Freelander 2 (856 sales)

SUV large – Ssangyong Rexton (114 sales)

SUV large >$70,000 – Mercedes-Benz R-Class (213 sales)

SUV upper large – Not awarded

SUV upper large >$100,000 – Mercedes-Benz G-Class (52 sales)

Light buses – Mercedes-Benz Sprinter (50 sales)

Light buses >20 seats – Toyota Coaster (380 sales)

Vans/cab-chassis – Peugeot Partner (99 sales)

Vans/cab-chassis 2.5 to 3.5 tonne – Citroen Dispatch (six sales)

Pick-up/cab-chassis 4x2 – Proton Jumbuck (149 sales)

Pick-up/cab-chassis 4x4 – Land Rover Defender (89 sales)

* Some vehicles have been excluded for various reasons, including:

1. Runout status

2. Not on sale for the full 12 months,

3. Not available throughout the whole country

4. Still sold in four-figure numbers, or higher, in the segment

Data source: VFACTS

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The wooden spooners of 2012

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