Look out for bargains as car brands race to end 2018 on a sales high

With a month of vehicle sales still to go in 2018, Australia’s favourite brands have all staked their claim on a top 5 spot, led by Toyota, Mazda, Hyundai, Mitsubishi and Ford. However things are still very much in the air further down the list, which should mean plenty of competitive pre-Christmas pricing as brands strive to maintain their top 10 positions.

Whatever happens this month, the 2018 Top 10 will look different to 2017, with Holden slipping from 4th spot down to as low as 7th, if Kia has a strong December.

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Holden currently sits in 6th spot, with its market share dropping from 8.2 percent in 2017 to 5.2 percent by the end of November 2018.

So far this year Holden has sold 55,929 vehicles, just 1328 more than Kia, which currently sits 7th, up from 9th at the end of 2017, its charge led by the Rio small car, Sportage SUV and Carnival people mover.

Mitsubishi has all but secured fourth placing this year on the back of strong sales of its Triton ute and ASX small SUV.

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Ford looks to have snared fifth spot for the year, up from 6th in 2017, with 63,851 sales up to the end of November. More than half of these sales were Ranger utes (38,779).

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Like Kia and Mitsubishi, Nissan and Honda also defied the overall market to grow their brands this year.

Nissan sits at 8th spot with five percent market share on the back of 53,129 sales to the end of November, which is just 1436 fewer than Kia and 836 more than Volkswagen. Nissan outsold Kia and Holden in November and would be hoping for a similarly strong December to stay well within the top 10.

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Honda, which didn’t finish in the top 10 last year, is hanging in there with 47,336 sales so far this year, but will be looking over its shoulder at 11th placed Subaru whose 46,565 sales give it a chance of stealing back 10th by December 31.

No other brands are in contention to make the Top 10, with luxury brand Mercedes-Benz a long way back in 11th with 29,967 cars and SUVs so far this year. This is actually more than Ford if you don’t include the big-selling Ranger.

As expected the top 3 for 2018 will remain the same as last year with Toyota defying to downward sales trend to so far boost its market share from 18.4 percent in 2017 to 18.9 percent with 201,070 sales. That’s almost double Mazda which sits No.2 with 103,151 sales, while Hyundai sits third with 88,421 vehicles sold.

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Outside the top 10 most brands have had fewer sales, reflecting the entire market’s 1.9 percent overall drop, though there were a couple of exceptions at totally opposite ends of the market: MG’s year to date sales are up 395 percent from 546 to 2706, while Ferrari sales jumped by 24.7 percent from 176 to 222.

2018 November/YTD sales Top 10