Toyota registrations close in on three million

The Australian Bureau of Statistics has released motor vehicle census data for 2018 this morning, highlighting Toyota's pre-eminent position as the brand of choice – for used cars as well as new.

"Toyota had over one million more registered passenger vehicles in 2018 than its closest rival, Holden" says Justin Lokhorst, ABS Director of Transport and Tourism.

"This is the 13th consecutive year that Toyota has topped the list of registered passenger vehicles."

For 2018, there are nearly 2.9 million registered Toyotas running around on Australian roads, versus fewer than 1.8 million Holdens. Toyota's dominance in the market is bolstered by strong, on-going new car sales, and reduced reliance on locally-built product in the past. The ABS data shows that the number of registered Toyotas in Australia has grown steadily in the five years since 2013, when 2.6 million Toyotas were registered.

In contrast, the gradual decline in new-car sales for Holden and Ford over recent years has resulted in a concomitant slide in registrations. Holden registrations have fallen from 2,027,034 in 2013 to 1,775,661 in 2018. Ford registrations numbered 1,555,842 in 2013, but the figure for 2018 had dropped to 1,215,333.

In the case of Holden (Commodore) and Ford (Territory and Falcon), the local models were the best sellers. The end of production in the final months of 2017 and 2016, respectively, along with the steady sales decline in the years beforehand, have had some impact on the total registration numbers as older cars have been written off or have become uneconomical to keep running.

Mitsubishi, another former local manufacturer, is the only other brand in the top 10 to see registration numbers dwindle over five years – but at least the attrition has begun to level out in the decade since Tonsley Park's closure. The change in registration numbers from 2017 to 2018 for Mitsubishi was just 0.1 per cent, versus 3.9% for Holden and 5.4% for Ford.

Other brands with fewer cars registered in 2018 include Peugeot, Chrysler and Daihatsu. The Japanese brand hasn't sold new cars in Australia for over a decade, and Chrysler's numbers have suffered from the attrition of older cars that were locally built in larger numbers than the vehicles being imported in the recent past. Peugeot also sold larger numbers of vehicles in the past, when the brand's models were being assembled in Australia. And over the past decade the brand has struggled to sell cars in the same numbers as it did before the Global Financial Crisis.

Also noteworthy from the ABS data is that 'other' – smaller brands collected in one category – have fallen from 298,366 registrations in 2013 to 254,724 in 2018. That's 14.6% down, and it hints at a trend to homogeneity in Australia's vehicle parc. Even though there are more brands selling new cars in Australia today, maybe owners of older, niche-selling cars are growing fewer with each passing year, and buyers in the 21st century are preferring better-known brands.

It's food for thought...