Mazda 3 2012 News

The Mazda3 scored another month at the top of the sales charts in February but Toyota Australia, which was best overall brand and equal second individually with the compact Corolla, said it is still unable to meet showroom demand.It is waiting for the resumption of full deliveries of the Corolla and its work-and-play HiLux utes and believes it will then have the firepower to tackle the Mazda3 head-on for sales supremacy."We're still not back to where we should be after the production problems last year, but we're getting there. We're looking to this month and April to get us back on track," the spokesman for Toyota Australia, Mike Breen, revealed yesterday. "We are holding more orders than we can fill. We're now being affected by global demand and the capacity in our factories."It's a matter of supply. We can only sell what arrives from Japan and Thailand."The February win for the Mazda3 was its third straight monthly success and came with deliveries of 3733 cars, well ahead of the Corolla and Holden Commodore in a tie for second on 2991.The Holden Cruze was not able to repeat its January result, when it outsold the Commodore for the first time, but still managed fourth overall with 2880 sales ahead of the Hyundai i30 on 2433.The February result gives the Mazda3 a 1404 margin after just two months of 2012, and around 25 per cent of its total sales, but Toyota is planning on at least 3200 sales a month for the Corolla once it can fill its pipeline.Although the Commodore was equal in second its sales were down by nearly 900 cars on the same month in 2011, with the Ford Falcon - only 18th in the charts - down by just on 800 in a reflection of the ongoing slide in large-car sales.But overall demand in February lifted by 6.0 per cent with a total of 85,723 deliveries for the month.The best performers, as usual, were SUVs which improved by 26.6 per cent on the same month in 2012, with compact SUV deliveries jumping by a massive 68.1 per cent.TOP 10 BRANDS - February 2012 (2012 YTD)Toyota: 14,849 (28,914 -1.7%)Holden: 9688 (18,749 0.3%)Mazda: 8689 (17,168 15.7%)Hyundai: 7412 (13,925 7.0%)Ford: 6951 (12,789 -8.7%)Nissan: 6227 (11,585 10.7%)Mitsubishi: 5166 (9732 0.8%)Volkswagen: 4132 (7498 35.6%)Subaru: 3225 (6830 -5.9%)Honda: 2603 (4182 -13.1%)

Kids aren’t usually a factor in Car of the Year judging.  But child friendliness rates highly with women buying cars – and with women judging cars.The countdown has been kicked off to decide the Women’s World Car of the Year, and the kid factor is one the judges pay a lot of attention to.“Statistics show that women drive children in cars significantly more often than men – and that means women need to take that into account, both when buying and as judges of cars,” WCOTY president Sandy Myhre said from New Zealand.“Any woman who has grappled constantly with child seats and belts and children considers those things when looking at buying a car.  Men might too but the fact is, women drive children in cars more than men.“Women would not consider that aspect in a Porsche 911 more than a bloke. The point is, it can be considered in these awards - and that is one of the points of difference in these awards.”Myhre points out that significant research into buying habits show that in addition to buying for themselves, women have a major influence in household purchase decisions for big ticket items.Ford Australia, for example, says their research shows that women are behind the majority of purchases of the Territory SUV – either as single women buying one, or in influencing the joint decision with their partner. “A report from Mattingly & Associates in Australia concluded, in part, that businesses that didn't understand this influence would be hard-pressed to stay in business.  That report was aptly called 'When I've Made Up Our Minds',” Myhre says.However, the kid factor is just one of the criteria by which the 2012 Women’s World Car of the Year will be judged.There are four categories in the Women's World Car of the Year – Family Car, Luxury Car, Sports Car and Economy Car. Points are allocated to each of ten criteria: driveability, engineering, comfort, child friendliness, style, interior, storage, dashboard efficiency, carbon footprint and colour range.The 20 judges from eleven countries have submitted their own personal short list and more than 300 cars were suggested. These individual choices were then whittled down to form a master list of 32 in terms of popularity. Judges will now allocate points for these cars from a criteria list.The announcement of the winning cars in each category and the supreme winner will be made before the end of March. The supreme award trophy and category certificates will be presented to the car companies concerned at the Mondial de l’Automobile 2012 – the Paris Motor Show – in September. The supreme trophy will this year be made in The Netherlands. Category-winner certificates will be designed at Peartree Studios in Colerne, UK.The first winner of the Women's World Car of the Year was the Jaguar XF in 2010 and the trophy made in South Africa was presented at the Jaguar boutique showroom in Knightsbridge, London. In 2011 there was a dead-heat between the Citroen DS3 and the BMW 5 Series. The two trophies made in India were presented at the Frankfurt Motor Show in September 2011. 

Not only did the Mazda3 and Toyota Corolla finish first and second on sales for the month, but the Holden Cruze beat its big-brother Commodore for the first time and the compact Ford Focus also trumped the Falcon. January provided a solid start to the 2012 showroom sales race, with an overall lift of 4.3 per cent over 2010 powered mostly - as usual - by growing demand for SUVs.But Falcon had its worst year on record and even a claim that hundreds of cars were damaged by hail at Broadmeadows could not balance the bad news. The Focus victory over the Falcon is a tick for the compact, with a towering margin of 1576-931 cars, but also another cross against the long-term future of the locally made family car. "It was a shocking storm. They really took a hit," a spokesman for Ford Australia, Neil McDonald, says. Holden has admitted for nearly a year that the Cruze would eventually become its local hero, but no-one expected the switch from big to little to happen so quickly.It's unlikely to be sustained every month, as Commodore sales in January are traditionally down while fleet buyers are on holidays, but it's a pointer to a sea change in Australian carmaking."It's a good problem to have," says Holden's spokesperson, Emily Perry. Holden, like Ford with Falcon and Territory, is now also combining Commodore and Cruze totals each month so people get the correct picture of their total local production.And it's claiming strong early returns from a variety of sources. "Holden's product renaissance is really picking up pace and key models are notching up very pleasing performances in their respective segments. Our focus remains on building and selling the cars Australians want to buy and with a raft of new models due in the coming months, we're looking forward to an exciting year ahead," says Holden's director of sales, Philip Brook. The margin between Cruze and Commodore was much closer than Focus and Falcon at 2445 sales to 2170. But neither could come close to the overall winner in January, the Mazda3 with 4045, or the second-placed Toyota Corolla with 3383. The Mazda is still powering off the back of its number one run through 2011 and led the company to a January record of 8479 sales, and 11.0 per cent of the market. The result reflects an increase of 1279 cars, or 17.8 per cent, over the result in 2011. "We are both delighted and humbled by customer acceptance of our whole range during January. While we are quietly confident of a strong year, particularly with the imminent launch of our all-new CX-5, our primary focus will remain on looking after our customers," says the managing director of Mazda Australia, Doug Dickson. As usual, Toyota was Australia's favourite brand in January, ahead of Toyota and Mazda, with Hyundai in fourth after the best January in its local history.

Trying to make some sense of it all is tough, but here is my best shot - today.Australia's car sales are heading for only their fourth 1-million year in 2011, but local production - and therefore exports - is down to the lowest level since 1957.The general trend - like most of the world - is downsizing. Traditional Aussie six-cylinder family cars - Falcon and Commodore - have had 20-30 per cent sales falls through 2011, while demand for small cars is up by 20 per cent most months.This is re-shaping the motor industry, leading Holden to start local production of the Cruze alongside the Commodore in Adelaide and forcing Ford to engineer a four-cylinder engine into the Falcon for 2012.Biggest change through 2011 is the performance of Mazda, which is now consistently number 4 in Australia thanks to the sales of its compact Mazda3.But Hyundai and Kia are also making rapid gains and Volkswagen is now a top-10 brand for the first time in decades.On the dealer front, profitability is poor. They have only just recovered from the GFC but the strong Australian dollar and demand for smaller cars has slashed per-unit profits. Some small cars now only earn a dealer a $400 margin.But car companies are making solid returns, since there are only 3 local manufacturers now and the other 61 brands - including cars, trucks and commercials - are importers who are helped by the strength of the dollar in buying power from home office.The three local manufacturers - Holden, Ford and Toyota - are all going through major renewals.The all-new Camry will be out in November - with the Camry hybrid early in 2012 - after a delay because of strike action at Altona.Ford has updated the Territory this year, including a diesel engine, and it is selling strongly, while the Falcon has also lifted in recent months thanks to a new LPG system that taps into demand from fleets and taxis.The VE Commodore is being dress-up with value packs - like the latest Equipe - as well as a range of economy improvements including the upcoming dedicated LPG model. Its big move for 2011 was the local production of the Cruze hatch, which is now forecast to eventually overtake the Commodore as Holden's biggest seller.Cars and utes from Thailand have become the low-cost source for a range of Japanese brands, who have moved production offshore. So that means the Toyota HiLux, a range of Honda models, and the latest Ford Ranger and Mazda BT50 utes, all come from Thailand.That is good news for consumers who get more cost-effective products and it's also helped Japanese brand stay price competitive.Japanese brands dominate the Australian automotive landscape and nothing shows it better than Toyota's place at number one, with more than 20 per cent of all salesMazda, Mitsubishi, Subaru and Honda are also strong.But Japan is lagging against the Korean attack and needs to lift the game on quality and 'European' design and engineering as their products are now being matched by Kia and Hyundai on the quality front, and undercut on value and warranty.Japan was hit worst by the GFC, with brands winding back research and development, so Honda will suffer for at least the next 2 years, Suzuki has nothing new and important for 3 years, and even Toyota's product changes are slower than normal.Chinese brands are establishing a beach head in Australia thanks to prices that typically undercut an equivalent Japanese model by 30 per cent.Great Wall is doing best with its utes and a medium SUV, but Chery is struggling with an $11,990 car that is sub-standard - even against the Koreans - on quality, comfort and performance. Geely is the only other passenger car brand but only sold in WA as its cars do not quality for the Victorian safety legislation that mandates ESP in 2011.But - and it's a big one - the Chinese are learning fast and prepared to make big changes. Poor safety result in independent NCAP testing have led to safety improvements at Great Wall and Chery, and Chery changes the gearbox in the J1 model after a single poor road test by Carsguide. So the industry is still the biggest secondary manufacturing base in Australia and critical to the 'brain thrust' in the country going forward. Holden and Ford now both do global engineering work in Melbourne.

The claimed 5.7L/100km efficiency from the high-tech manual-only 2.2-litre turbo diesel will make the Mazda 3 sedan and hatch the most fuel miserly models in Mazda's Australian range