The Australian new car market topped 1.1m for only the third year ever, with 1,113,224 new cars sold in 2014.
The close race between last year’s top seller, the Toyota Corolla, and the Mazda 3 ended with the Toyota winning by 422 units – 43,735 to 43,313.
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The Hyundai i30 also appeared in the top five as the nation’s fourth highest selling car. The Toyota Hilux was the third highest selling vehicle and the Holden Commodore fifth.
FCAI chief executive Tony Weber said SUV sales continued to boom in 2014 with the vehicle type now accounting for around 32% of the market.
“The increase in SUV purchases is a reflection of the versatility these vehicles provide and the increasing range of these vehicles available in the market,” Weber said.
“SUVs and light commercial vehicles now account for almost 50% of new car sales in Australia. Passenger car sales have dropped 6.1% to hold 47.8% of the market.”
Business sales were slow in 2014, with 6.6% less vehicles sold to business than in 2013. Government purchases rose 3.4% compared to 2013 and private sales remained steady—up 0.5%.
Toyota was the top selling brand with 18.3% of the market. It was followed by General Motors’ Holden with 9.5%, Mazda with 9%, Hyundai with 9% and Ford with 7.2%.
