VFACTS: Bumper start to 2016

Australia's new-vehicle market might have set a new record of 1,155,408 sales last year, but that didn't stop its expanding a further 2.7 per cent month on month in January, when 84,373 found homes according to official VFACTS figures to be released today.

Once again the biggest movers were SUVs (up 19.5 per cent year-to-date), while light commercial vehicles were up almost 12 per cent and passenger car sales actually shrunk by 11.5 per cent.

Indeed, the biggest surprises were slumps by market leader Toyota, which sold 8.8 per cent fewer vehicles in January (12,453), and Holden, which was down a big 18.8 per cent with 6824 vehicles ranking it fourth.

The other mainstream brands were relatively stable with Mazda up 11.2 per cent at just over 10,000 sales, Hyundai up 1.4 per cent with 7000 sales and Nissan (up a big 22.6 per cent) narrowly edging our Ford (up 2.7) for sixth after both brands sold about 5500 vehicles.

Mitsubishi (5007 sales, up 22.7 per cent YTD), Volkswagen (4341, -1.3%), Subaru (3405, +9.7%) and Kia (3116, +29.0%) rounded out the top 10.

Mercedes-Benz was right behind them with almost 3100 sales (up 19.5 per cent), ahead of fellow luxury brand Audi (2142, +11.3%), which outsold BMW with 2075 registrations – up 19.8 per cent.

The new GLC mid-size SUV was Mercedes' top-seller, edging out its evergreen C-Class -- 587 sales to 503 – and the popular Audi Q5 (251) and BMW X3 (270), but Audi's new Q7 attracted a huge 513 buyers to beat the BMW X5 (254) and facelifted/renamed Benz GLE (196).

Australia's top-selling model in January was the Mazda3 with 3722 sales (down 4.6 per cent YTD), ahead of the Toyota Corolla (2758, -20.6%), while the facelifted Ford Ranger (2418) surged ahead of the new Toyota HiLux (2341) and Hyundai's new Tucson was the only other model to attract more 2000 customers.

Hyundai's i30, Mazda's CX-5, the Holden Colorado, Nissan Navara and Volkswagen Golf filled out the top 10, with Holden's Australian-made Commodore (1242) and Cruze (1231) well outside and both down more than 30 per cent.

Of the other locals, Toyota's Camry was more than 55 per cent down with just over 500 sales after its bumper 2015 and the Aurion was more than 70 per cent down with just 69 sold. Ford's Falcon was 38 per cent down with 235 regos and the Territory was 22 per cent off with 500 sales.

Top 10 brands in January:
Toyota — 12,453
Mazda — 10,016
Hyundai — 7001
Holden — 6824
Nissan — 5563
Ford — 5504
Mitsubishi — 5007
Volkswagen — 4341
Subaru — 3405
Kia — 3116

Top 10 models January:
Mazda3 — 3722
Toyota Corolla — 2758
Ford Ranger — 2418
Toyota HiLux — 2341
Hyundai Tucson — 2065
Hyundai i30 — 1852
Mazda CX-5 — 1750
Holden Colorado — 1691
Nissan Navara — 1670
Volkswagen Golf — 1606