10 most popular vehicles in Australia, May 2016

The Hyundai i30 has scored a hat-trick of monthly sales victories, topping a tightly contested May.

Just 656 units separated the top five cars last month, according to the latest official industry figures.

A generous $19,990 driveaway deal continues to make the Korean hatch hugely popular in Australia, and helped it pip the second-placed Toyota HiLux 3771 sales to 3675.

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Hilux remains ahead in the overall race to be Australia’s best-selling vehicle of 2016, though the Toyota ute’s lead has narrowed to just 133 units.

Toyota featured twice on the sales podium for May, with the Corolla (3333) edging out the Mazda 3 (3243) for third place.

Ford’s Ranger also exceeded 3000 units (3115) in what was a great month for utes, with four of the light-commercial utility vehicles featuring in the top 10. Hilux and Ranger were joined by the Mitsubishi Triton (2021 sales) and Nissan Navara (1752).

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The once-untouchable Holden Commodore had a solid performance with 2255 sales.

Mazda’s CX-5 was the only sports utility vehicle in the top 10, though SUVs continue to be the fastest-growing segment.

Fewer than 2000 units separated passenger cars (38,222) from SUVs (36,230) as the high-riding wagons continue to threaten to become Australia’s most popular vehicle type for the first time.

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Toyota continues to be out of sight as the biggest-selling brand, its May result of 17,201 contributing to a year-to-date total of 80,261, which is a long way ahead of nearest challenger Mazda (9608 May sales for a total of 48,518 year-to-date).

Hyundai was third in May with 9005 and is also in position three overall, its 42,050 tally ahead of fourth-placed Holden (36,634). Ford rounds out the top 5 – 6584 for May; 32,067 YTD.

A total of 96,672 sales is a new record for the month of May, up nearly four per cent on May 2015.

New-car sales for the first five months of the year have increased 3.8 per cent, to 469,571.

TOP 10 MOST POPULAR VEHICLES – MAY 2016

RACE FOR 2016’S NO.1 SALES SPOT (at end of May 2016)