Myth Busted - Australia's Favourite Car

[Timmeh]

Myth busted: Australia’s favourite car

Richard Blackburn, The Sydney Morning Herald, 01/09/06

What Australians choose to drive is different to what they’re told to drive.


The Holden Commodore is Australia's favourite car, right? Well, it depends on how you define the word "favourite".

The Commodore is Australia's biggest-selling car but it is not No.1 with people who put their hands in their own pockets to pay for a car.

In fact, it's not even No.1 with private buyers of Holdens - the Korean-built Barina takes that title, followed by the Astra.

But the Commodore's lack of appeal to private buyers is nothing compared with Ford's Falcon. Last year it was the No. 2 selling vehicle in the country but it doesn't even rate in the top 15 favourites among private buyers. The Focus is Ford's top retail performer, followed by the Territory soft-roader.

According to figures obtained by Drive, the No.1 selling car among private customers this year is the Toyota Corolla (above left), followed closely by the Mazda3 (centre), with Toyota's Yaris (right) and the Echo model it replaced No.3. Commodore comes in at No.9. Imported vehicles fill the top eight spots on the private top-sellers list.

The figures are sure to create big headaches for Australia's four local manufacturers, which all make large cars.

Private consumers buy four times as many Corollas as they do locally built Falcons and four-cylinder Camrys. Private sales of Corolla are more than double those of Commodore.

Mitsubishi's 380 large sedan attracted just 956 private buyers in the first seven months of this year. Fleet sales make up 87 per cent of the 380's sales.

Honda's small Civic is the car with the highest percentage of private buyers. With just 10 per cent fleet sales, Honda is No.5 on the private sales charts, compared with No.14 overall.

The top choice among private four-wheel-drive buyers is Toyota's RAV4, which - once fleet sales are taken out - turns the tables on the segment's overall best-seller, the Ford Territory. Corporate customers account for about 60 per cent of Territory sales.

Car companies share private sales results between themselves but have an agreement not to release them to the public. Local manufacturers are not keen for the figures to be made public because they sell so many fleet vehicles and high fleet sales can affect public perceptions of a brand.

The figures reveal that 88 per cent of Falcon buyers are fleet customers, compared with 81 per cent for Commodore.

The Toyota Corolla, which is overall the country's second biggest seller, sells mainly (60 per cent) to private buyers.

Private sales are vital for car companies because they mean profitability and a healthy brand. Fleet sales, on the other hand, are often a necessary evil, providing volume for local production lines but generating wafer-thin margins and the stigma of common-ness.

Holden has acknowledged this and aims to lift private sales of its new Commodore to 60 per cent of the total - such a result would lift it to third on the hit parade for private buyers but recent trends suggest Holden will have a tough job attracting private buyers to a bigger and heavier Commodore.

Fleets have been gradually turning away from large cars but private buyers have been deserting them in droves - fewer than one in 10 private buyers opted for a large car in the first seven months of this year. In 2002, the figure was closer to one in five and private buyers bought more large cars than light or medium examples.

Car industry executives say a growing number of fleet sales are pseudo-private sales, with more people using a salary package to lease a vehicle for private use. But even these so-called "user-chooser" buyers are going cold on large cars. Large cars made up 53.6 per cent of fleet car sales in 2002, while this year the figure has slipped to 40.6 per cent.

All four local makers have built four-cylinder cars - perhaps it's time to dust off the plans. As the only manufacturer to build a four-cylinder car, the Camry, Toyota has a head start.



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Just saw the article and found it interesting, mostly about Fords best retail seller. I would have thought the Falcon or Territory would have still outsold it.

Still, you never know how they get the figures.

Timmeh