Mazda, MG and Isuzu soar in January 2022 sales results as Hyundai and Volkswagen feel the pinch

Official new-vehicle sales figures reveal a shaky start to the year, with overall registrations hitting 75,863 units, down by 4.8 per cent compared with January 2021.

One year ago, the industry was optimistic, with dealerships finally open following months of lockdowns and disruptions to retail since the start of the pandemic, and sales up by 11 per cent over January 2020.

The reasons for the slow start to 2022 is a result of the ongoing semiconductor shortage and COVID-19’s impact on global supply chains, according to Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) chief executive Tony Weber.

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“This is an issue impacting markets all over the globe. Despite this, consumer interest, inquiry, and the fundamental demand for new cars in Australia remains strong,” he said.

Toyota was once again market leader for the month, although sales were off by 8.8 per cent due to big drops from volume models like the Corolla (1442, -30.1%) small car and the RAV4 SUV (1425, -53.5%).

Brand T took top honours in terms of individual model sales, with the HiLux ute landing in first place with (3591, -8.2%), ahead of the soon-to-be-replaced Ford Ranger ute (3245, +4.0%). The Prado large SUV was a popular pick last month (2566, +88.8%), grabbing fifth place.

Mazda had an exceptional month, landing in second place overall with 9805 sales, up 15.2 per cent over last January. That gave it a market share of 12.9 per cent, its highest share ever in Australia.

The MG ZS was the top-selling small SUV in January 2022.

This was helped by a bumper month for the CX-5 (3213, +54.4%) which landed in third place on the best-selling models chart thanks to better supply and hot runout deals ahead of the facelifted model arriving in March. It was the best month ever for CX-5 sales, according to Mazda.

Mitsubishi brushed past some key rivals to land in third with 6533 sales, up 26.1 per cent, helped along by huge growth for the Triton ute (2876, +50.7%), which was the fourth best-selling model last month.

Kia didn’t have any models in the top 10 but it held steady to nab fourth place overall (5520, +0.4%), just edging out its sister brand, Hyundai (5128, -13.8%), which dropped to fifth place.

The i30 (1642, -15.9%) landed in seventh place, but other key models took a dip in January, including the Kona (889, -18.5%) and Tucson (775, -35.7%).

The Prado was Toyota's second best-selling model in January.

Ford took sixth spot on (4528, -11.2%), with Ranger (+4.0%) and Everest (+37.2%) the only models in its line-up going in the right direction.

MG (3538, +46.9%) rose to seventh place on the back of incredibly strong months for both the ZS (1588, +26.7%) and MG3 (1551, +80.6%), which are, respectively, the top-selling small SUV and light passenger car in Australia.

Subaru was eighth overall, and despite an overall sales dip (2722, -15.5%), there was an uptick in sales of the Forester SUV (1480, +20.2%) which landed in tenth spot.

Isuzu continued its excellent form by recording 2715 sales (+14.9%) to secure ninth place. The MU-X SUV (820, +51.6%) was the second best-selling nameplate in the sub-$70,000 large-SUV segment behind the Toyota Prado, while the D-Max ute also continued its growth (1895, +4.0%).

The Subaru Forester nabbed a top 10 spot last month.

Nissan slid further down the charts to round out the top 10 on 2334, representing a 37.9 per cent drop.

Just outside the top 10, Volkswagen continued to battle ongoing supply issues and recorded 1527 sales (-43.9%), which put it in 13^th place behind fellow Germans Mercedes Benz Cars (2316, -5.2%) and BMW (1565, -8.0%).

Every state and territory recorded sales declines, except Tasmania which saw a 15.4 per cent increase compared with January 2021.

Overall sales of passenger cars continued to decline, dropping by 15.3 per cent, but SUVs also went backwards by 4.7 per cent. Light-commercial vehicles grew by 4.4 per cent.

The most popular brands of January 2022

The most popular models of January 2022