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Car sales top million again for 2011

Toyota topped the charts for the ninth straight year, while the Mazda3 was the country's favourite car.

Official sales figures for 2011 put the total at 1,008,437, down by 2.6 per cent on 2011 but still a remarkable result after a series of natural disasters in Australia, global economic uncertainty and floods, an earthquake and tsunami in Thailand and Japan that badly affected the supply of vehicles.

Toyota topped the charts for the ninth straight year, while the Mazda3 was the country's favourite car.

The Holden Commodore and Ford Falcon were the big losers in 2011, as the 3 ended the Commodore's 15-year run as Australia's favourite car - by a margin of 812 - and  Falcon's support dropped by 36.5 per cent and it was only ninth among the country's best sellers.

Results for 2011 reflect the continuing improvement by Mazda, which finished fourth overall with a 4.2 lift in sales, as well as Hyundai and Volkswagen, which had the biggest growth among leading brands with a 17.7 per cent improvement.

On the other side, Honda was the biggest loser with a 25.4 per cent fall in 2011 deliveries.

The Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries says the result was a good one after the challenges of 2011 and is predicting another one-million result for 2012.

"This achievement highlights the determination of the Australian automotive industry to be successful within one of the most open and competitive markets in the world," says FCAI chief executive, Ian Chalmers.

"This number also is a welcome indication of the strong underlying demand that exists in Australia for personal transportation."

Commenting on the continuing slide in large-car sales, Chalmers says it reflects changing consumer preferences.

"While Australians keep buying more cars, the cars they buy are getting smaller. The demand for sport utility vehicles was up again - an increase of 3.8 per cent - which is a phenomenal result suggesting that Australians are embracing SUVs as the new family car."

TOP 10 BRANDS 2011 2010
Toyota 181,624 214,718
GM Holden 126,095 132,923
Ford 91,243 95,284
Mazda 88,333 84,777
Hyundai  87,008 80,038
Nissan  67,926  62,676
Mitsubishi, 61,108  62,496
Volkswagen 44,740 38,016
Subaru 34,011 40,025
Honda 30,107 40,375
     
TOP 20 MODELS 2011 2010
Mazda3 41,429 29,003
Holden Commodore 40,617 45,956
Toyota HiLux 36,124 39,896
Toyota Corolla 36,087 41,632
Holden Cruze 33,784 28,334
Hyundai i30 28,869 29,772
Nissan Navara 21,675 21,171
Toyota Camry 19,169 25,014
Ford Falcon 18,741 29,516
Mitsubishi Lancer 18,711 23,076
Volkswagen Golf  18,383 15,425
Mazda2  17,501 14,794
Mitsubishi Triton 17,188 16,578
Toyota Yaris 16,214 21,452
Ford Ranger 15,586 14,686
Ford Territory 13,866 11,558
Subaru Forester  13,142 14,644
Toyota RAV4 13,125 14,597
Ford Focus 12,863 9848
Suzuki Swift 12,388 12,161
     
THE SEGMENTS 2011 2010 DIFFERENCE %
Passenger 559,314 592,122 -32,808 -5.5%
Light 132,442 137,916 -5474 -4.0%
Small 244,090 239,098 4992 2.1%
Medium 75,984 82,622 -6638 -8.0%
Large 78,077 98,583 -20,506 -20.8%
Upper Lge 3042 3753  -711 -18.9%
People Movers 11,109 12,655 -1546 -12.2%
Sports 14,570 17,495 -2925  -16.7%
SUV 244,136 235,285  8851 3.8%
SUV Compact 121,387 114,761 6626 5.8%
SUV Medium 80,485 83,811 -3326 -4.0%
SUV Large 12,336 12,256 80 0.7%
SUV Luxury 29,928 24,457 5471 22.4%
Light Commercial 176,940 179,553 -2,613 -1.5%
Heavy Commercial 28,047 28,614 -567 -2.0%
TOTAL MARKET 1,008,437 1,035,574 -27,137 -2.6%
         
THE STATE OF THE NATION 2011 2010 DIFFERENCE %
ACT 15,756 16,284 -528 -3.2%
NSW 314,576 316,470 -1,894 -0.6%
NT 9991 10,223 -232 -2.3%
QLD 210,899 207,919 2980 1.4%
SA 62,760 66,444 -3,684 -5.5%
TAS 16,769 19,370 -2601 -13.4%
VIC 268,194 281,411 -13,217 -4.7%
WA 109,492 117,453 -7,961 -6.8%

Source: VFacts