Hyundai i30 tops selling car list
Hyundai scored the victory on a technicality; the hatch and sedan are marketed under different names but they are identical except for their body styles.
When sales for Hyundai's small sedan and hatch are tallied they outsell the sedan and hatch versions of the Toyota Corolla and Mazda3.
The result marks Hyundai's first appearance at the top of the podium in 15 years; in June 1998 the budget-priced Hyundai Excel briefly outsold the Holden Commodore when it was at the start of its decade of domination.
Meanwhile in a further upset the Toyota Corolla has increased its lead in the year-to-date tally over the reigning champ, the Mazda3. Sales of the top-selling car for the past two years slumped in June as Mazda makes way for an all-new model due early next year.
The Toyota HiLux utility was the top-selling nameplate last month - its 13th monthly victory in five years and the second month in a row - but it is listed as a commercial vehicle, not a passenger car.
Sales of the new Holden Commodore range failed to fire as computer glitches and transport problems restricted deliveries to dealers. The Commodore was pushed to 13th place, its lowest ranking to date.
The situation was so dire Holden boss Mike Devereux wrote to dealers to apologise for the delays. Holden sales so far this year are down by 8 per cent in a booming market. The one saving grace for Holden: the locally-made Cruze small car posted a sales surge despite facing tougher imported competition.
Holden is third place overall behind market leader Toyota and top importer Mazda when sales for the first six months of this year are calculated.
And Hyundai is closing in on Holden. The South Korean car maker led a tight race for third place in June ahead of Ford, Mazda, Mitsubishi and Nissan after the latter two posted all-time monthly sales records.
New-car deliveries in June bucked retail trends with an all-time record of close to 120,000 sales; the previous best result was in June last year (112,566 sales).
Official new-car figures are due to be released Wednesday by the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries. The preliminary data comes from figures shared by the car industry beforehand.
Customarily there is little to no variation between the early figures and the official figures released three days later, but Nissan has been known to report higher results after the preliminary data is exchanged, particularly on months when it is close to moving a spot up the ladder.
Contrary to perception, new car sales results are not based on new vehicle registrations. The figures are supplied voluntarily by car makers because collating registration data would take months.
Top-selling vehicles in June*
Toyota HiLux 4931
Hyundai i30/Elantra 4599
Toyota Corolla 4197
Mazda3 3672
Mitsubishi Triton 3459
Nissan Navara 2665
Toyota Camry 2652
Holden Cruze 2378
Nissan Pulsar 2331
Mazda CX-5 2306
Ford Ranger 2305
Hyundai ix35 2225
Holden Commodore 2147
Top-selling vehicles year-to-date*
Toyota Corolla 20,971
Mazda3 20,077
Toyota HiLux 15,790
Hyundai i30/Elantra 14,735
Nissan Navara 13,747
Mitsubishi Triton 13,057
Holden Cruze 12,503
Ford Ranger 10,563
Mazda CX-5 10,363
Holden Commodore 10,304
Toyota Camry 10,135
Top-selling brands in June 2013*
Toyota 22,161
Holden 10,486
Hyundai 9914 (record)
Ford 9696
Mazda 9567
Mitsubishi 9250 (record)
Nissan 9228 (record)
Volkswagen 5100
Honda 5061
Subaru 4119
Top-selling brands year-to-date*
Toyota 106,111
Mazda 52,287
Holden 51,550
Hyundai 47,979
Ford 44,513
Nissan 44,128
Mitsubishi 37,322
Volkswagen 29,234
Honda 23,429
Subaru 20,713
* Preliminary figures. FCAI data released later this week
Source: www.news.com.au
