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New car sales price Toyota Corolla and Nissan Pulsar

2012 Toyota Corolla Levin ZR. Prices have been cut across the Toyota range.

The all-new Toyota Corolla and Nissan Pulsar have both been landed below the psychological $20,000 barrier as the two Japanese brands look to maximise customer value and boost sales.

Toyota has cut prices across the new Corolla range while adding value, as Nissan returns the Pulsar to local showrooms with the sort of value deal that makes plenty of sense. The only downside is that the automatic gearboxes in the two cars, which are both fuel-focussed CVT designs, cost $2000 in the Corolla and $2250 in the Pulsar.

The two cars are previewed alongside Mitsubishi's new bargain-basement battler, a Mirage expected to be tagged from $12,000 in showrooms, at the opening of the Australian International Motor Show in Sydney. “If you get the product right, everything else follows,” the executive vice-president of Toyota Australia, Dave Buttner, tells Carsguide.

“All the growth in sales this year is with private buyers, as government departments have been winding back and fleet sales are also down. Private buyers are confident and they are spending on the second-biggest purchase after their house.” He says car sales are well on target for an all-time record around 1,080,000 with double-digit growth for much of the year.

Toyota is aiming to snap up more than 200,000 of those sales, running a parallel run out program with the old Corolla - at $18,990 on-the-road - to boost its compact conversions while holding onto leadership in the ute field with its HiLux. The only setback for the new Corolla is the late arrival of the four-door sedan, with only five-door hatches for Australia for at least nine months.

For Nissan, the Pulsar is crucial and the company is looking for a big impact including a return of the SSS hatch that was a cult car in the 1980s. “Pulsar is back and we have big plans,” Bill Peffer, managing director of Nissan Australia, tells Carsguide. 

Among the other real-world cars set for spark a sales surge before December 31 is the new Mazda6, with the good looking Peugeot 208 and Renault Clio also on the way from Europe. For Mazda, the new 6 is its first all-new arrival since the GFC and a pointer to the replacement for the top selling Mazda3.

“You can see now where we're going,” Doug Dickson, MD of Mazda Australia, says. And the baby Mirage? “It's something new for us, and it's going to bring a lot of people to the brand. I reckon we'll sell heaps,”  Mitsubishi marketing chief Paul Unerkov laughs.

He refuses to talk pricing, but everything points to a $12,000 bottom line for a car which must head off the latest Chinese and Korean contenders.