Toyota Hilux tops May 2015 Australian car sales

The ‘unbreakable’ ute seems unshakable in the showroom stakeout despit fresh competition from an armada of rivlals

THE Toyota Hilux is the most popular vehicle in Australia, outselling the second-placed Mazda 3 by almost 300 units. The Toyota Corolla was third, followed by the Mitsubishi Triton and the Ford Ranger.

That means that the Hilux was one of three utes – or ‘pick-ups’ as the vernacular becomes increasingly Americanised – in the Top Ten, with the Mitsubishi Triton in fourth and the Ford Ranger in fifth.

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May was the 14th time that the Hilux was topped the sales charts, with the flagship SR5 model the most popular in the line-up. Its sales are particularly impressive given that a new Hilux has been shown ahead of its launch this October (pictured, below), and the current ‘old’ model is yet to be heavily discounted to ‘run out’ unwanted stocks.

Toyota is, however, offering attractive driveaway pricing across the Hilux range, with the entry-level 2WD cab chassis starting at $20,990, compared to its 1$8,990 list price. The most popular model, on average, is the Dual-cab SR5 flagship in diesel, with automatic transmission. It's currently $49,990 driveaway, with Toyota likley to see a run on these as the end of the financial year approaches.

The top sales result also comes in spite of new Nissan Navara having just gone on sale within weeks of an all-new Mitsubishi Triton, while the Ford Ranger has been updated this year as well, meaning that the Hilux has done exceeding well in the face of serious competition.

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The overall market for May 2015 was down 1.3% yet Australians have bought more new cars year-to-date than in 2014.

While the Hilux spearheaded the light commercial segment, which grew by 1.0% compared to April last year and 3.6% for the year so far, SUVs increased 5.8% for the month to be up a whopping 13.5% year-to-date. The trend of passenger cars declining continued as well, with a 5.0% fall so far in 2015 and a 7.3% fall in May.

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It was still the Mazda 3 (above) in the prime form for passenger cars after it wrestled back the top spot from the Corolla for the month, but still trails the Toyota by more than 1000 units so far this year.

Impressively, the VW Golf (below) is snapping at the heels of the Holden Commodore, the big Aussie still performing remarkably well, with sales of the German maker’s hatch up a huge 10.7% year-to-date.

That increase is particularly noteworthy considering that the trailblazing Corolla and 3 have fallen 0.5% and 11.7% respectively, in a segment that’s declined 10.7% this year.

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TOP 10 VEHICLES MAY 2015
RANK MODEL (SALES, % CHANGE)

1. Toyota Hilux (3173,-4.2)
2. Mazda3 (2876,-12.6)
3. Toyota Corolla (2688, -30.6)
4. Mitsubishi Triton (2683, 19.0)
5.Ford Ranger (2411,4.1)
6. Holden Commodore (2217,-16.3)
7. Volkswagen Golf (2115, -9.5)
8. Mazda CX-5 (1981, +15.5)
9. Hyundai i20 (1920, +36.6)
10. Hyundai i30 (1666,-34.7)

TOP 10 PASSENGER CARS FOR MAY 2015
RANK MODEL (SALES, % CHANGE)

1.Mazda 3 (2876, -12.6)
2. Toyota Corolla (2688, -30.6)
3. Holden Commodore (2217, -16.3)
4. Volkswagen Golf (2115,-9.5)
5.Mazda CX-5 (1981,+15.5)
6.Hyundai i20 (1920, +36.6)
7. Hyundai i30 (1666,-34.7)
8.Toyota RAV4 (1633, +7.3)
9. Toyota Camry (1464, -3.8)
10. Hyundai ix35 (1395,-0.7)

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