The Mazda 3 is off to a flying start in 2014, posting a dominant January sales result to get the jump on its key Toyota challengers.
A mix of heavily discounted previous-generation cars and early deliveries of the all-new model catapulted the Mazda 3 to 4561 sales (up 36.4 per cent), leaving the Toyota Corolla (2941, down 1.6 per cent) and HiLux (2544, down 7.4 per cent) in its wake.
Mazda is hopeful the new 3 can reclaim the sales crown for the nameplate in 2014, after the ageing second-gen model was dethroned by the Corolla last year. Toyota should get a shot in the arm from this month when it introduces the new-generation Corolla sedan.
The 3’s stellar start bucked the trend of the industry as a whole, which declined 3.7 per cent compared with January 2013 to 82,285 sales, in what is historically a quiet month across the board for fleet, government and private sales.
Toyota started the year as it has finished the past 11, claiming top spot on the manufacturer’s list with 13,646 sales (up 2.0 per cent).
It led Mazda (9411, up 5.6 per cent) and Holden (8871, up 0.7 per cent), which held off Hyundai (7152, up 4.9 per cent) and Ford (6804, down 11.9 per cent) for the lower places on January’s podium.
Buoyed by a strong month from the Golf (1557, up 84.5 per cent), which ranked ninth overall, Volkswagen (4048, up 5.9 per cent) joined Nissan (4253, down 41.3 per cent) and Mitsubishi (4140, down 6.9 per cent) in a tight battle for sixth in the manufacturer stakes.
Kia (2484, up 7.6 per cent), pipped Honda (2471, down 35.2 per cent) to claim the final place in the top 10, while Mercedes-Benz (2029, up 15.3 per cent) and Jeep (2006, up 22.2 per cent) entered the race with 2000-plus results and strong growth. Audi notched a monthly sales record (1685, up 25.3 per cent), as did Fiat Chrysler (3113, up 45.5 per cent).
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Car sales January 2014: winners and losers | CarAdvice
