With local production of Holdens all set to stop by 2018 the latest sales figures show the brand could fall out of the top three sellers in Australia for the first time in its 67-year history.
Toyota remain on top, with its Corolla Australias’ biggest-selling car. However, it’s the Korean manufacturer Hyundai that is the improver moving into second spot on the best-selling list.
New car sales – reported by News Corp media – show it wasn’t great news for any of the car brands. Toyota was down 7.2 per cent, Holden’s sales were down 8.9 per cent and Ford was down a massive 22.5 per cent.
However, it should be noted that August – the month after the busy ‘end of financial year’ period – is typically a slow one for local car yards.
The Japanese brands such as Mazda, Honda and Mitsubishi did well, but that was believed to be due to the depreciating Yen keeping their prices down.
Hyundai’s sales increases, reported by News.com.au, was due to its aggressive pricing and advertising in Australia. The News report quoted confidential dealer information that had said the head office in Seoul had wanted other territories to take up the slack from falling demand in China.
Hyundai had knocked off $5000 from the driveaway price of its biggest seller the i30 which was retailing in Australia for under $20K until recently.
