– By Marc Sibbald –
Another year, another record, and another year where Toyota sells the most new cars in Australia. They lead the way the with the highest overall sales (216,566), market share (18.2%) and top selling passenger vehicle by pumping out 37,353 Corollas in 2017.
The HiLux was the top selling vehicle in Australia (in all variants) with 47,093 which broke the previous record from 2008 of 42,956. This is a fantastic result for a vehicle that faced some stronger competition in the market over recent years.
Last year was the fifth time that HiLux sales have exceeded 40,000 vehicles. It included a new 4×4 record for the nameplate of 35,297 vehicles, a gain of 13.6 per cent compared with the previous high of 31,076 set in 2016. In the 4×2 segment, HiLux had its best year since 2012 with 11,796 deliveries – an increase of 7.0 per cent on the previous year. HiLux was the top-selling vehicle in Western Australia for the 10th year in a row, in Queensland for the 11th straight year and in the Northern Territory for a remarkable 17th successive year.
Toyota sold more passenger cars, sports-utility vehicles (SUVs) and light-commercial vehicles (LCVs) than any other brand and topped the sales charts in every state and territory.
Camry – with the launch of a new-generation car in November – was Australia’s best-selling mid-size car for the 24th year in a row with 23,620 deliveries. Other segment leaders for Toyota were LandCruiser Prado, LandCruiser wagon, HiAce van and HiAce bus.
Toyota Australia’s president Matthew Callachor said the industry’s overall improvement last year reflected the gains by Toyota. “Toyota and the industry have increased sales in each of the past three years and, in 2017, we both achieved all-time records for SUVs and LCVs,” Mr Callachor said.
“In SUVs, Toyota passed 70,000 sales for the first time and our market share rose 1.1 percentage points while the industry exceeded 465,000 sales. Toyota’s RAV4 had its fifth consecutive year of record sales, passing 20,000 deliveries for the first time.
“Records also tumbled for LCVs with Toyota reaching 66,034 sales and the industry exceeding 236,600 sales. Led by HiLux, Toyota increased its market share in this category by almost a full percentage point.”
Mr Callachor said SUVs outsold passenger cars across the industry for the first time last year, but the strongest percentage growth in the past two years had occurred in LCVs.
“SUV sales have grown 14 per cent during this period while sales of LCVs have grown almost 18.9 per cent. This surge in demand for vehicles like HiLux can be viewed as an extension of the popularity of SUVs.
“They’re high-riding vehicles that can take you on your adventures while delivering car-like features and comfort,” Mr Callachor said.
As always there were some winners and losers in the new car battle.
Winners
- Kia up 28.3%
- Honda up 14.6%
- Isuzu Ute up 10.4%
- Mitsubishi up 9.9%
- Subaru up 11.7%
Losers
- Nissan down 15.3%
- Jeep down 34.5%
- Volvo Car down 20.4%
- BMW down 15.7%
