by Mike CostelloAn Australian-made vehicle burst back onto the very top of the sales charts for first time in ages in December — the venerable Toyota Camry.
In a remarkable result, the Camry’s posted registration figure for the final month of the calendar year was 5321 units — well over double what it managed in December 2014.
It’s also the second-highest monthly total posted for any single model over a single month this year, the highest being the Hyundai i30’s June total of 5521.
Toyota achieved the feat by offering sharp drive-away deals (from $28,990) coupled with zero per cent finance deals. The company also registered a number of dealer demonstrators that will be moved on this month, but naturally cannot be ‘sold’ twice.
It’s no secret that Toyota is discounting the Camry to keep demand high, and thereby keeping the Melbourne factory viable out to its slated end of 2017 shutdown date.
The December figure meant the Camry managed a staggering medium segment monthly market share of 71.1 per cent, and took its annualised share figure to a tick over 53 per cent.
The Camry’s performance, and the presentation of the full-year 2015 results, meant the December VFACTS breakdown was a little overshadowed this month.
December new vehicle sales totalled 99,616, up 2.9 per cent. The figure helped secure an overall annual record of 1,155,408 registrations in 2015, led by Toyota, Mazda, Holden, Hyundai and Mitsubishi in that order.
The top brands for December:Toyota — 21,217, up 11.6 per cent
Mazda — 9708, up 11.2 per cent
Holden — 9146, up 18 per cent
Mitsubishi — 7500, up 0.8 per cent
Hyundai — 7159, down 6.5 per cent
Ford — 6290, up 6 per cent
Nissan — 5012, down 14.6 per cent
Volkswagen — 4458, down 1.8 per cent
Subaru — 3609, up 5.2 per cent
Mercedes-Benz — 3443, up 28 per cent
Knocking on the door:Honda — 3318, down 11.7 per cent
Kia — 2531, up 31.3 per cent
Isuzu Ute — 2041, down 12.7 per cent
Audi — 1988 up 27.6 per cent
BMW — 1702, down 11.4 per cent
The top ten individual models for December:Toyota Camry — 5321, up 124.1 per cent
Toyota Corolla — 3469, down 2.2 per cent
Mazda 3 — 3445, down 9.4 per cent
Toyota HiLux — 3133 down 5.9 per cent
Ford Ranger — 2836, up 42.7 per cent
Holden Commodore — 2622, up 30.5 per cent
Mitsubishi Triton — 2134, down 37.6 per cent
Mitsubishi ASX — 2066, up 177.7 per cent
Hyundai i30 — 1999, down 29.3 per cent
Mazda CX-5 — 1917, up 11.6 per cent
Other facts and figures:Passenger car market share was 44.3 (down 2.2), compared to SUVs (35.6, up 3.9), light commercials (17, down 1.8) and heavy commercials (3.1, up 0.2).
The five most popular vehicle segments by overall market share were Small Cars (18.3), Medium SUVs (13.4), Large SUVs (12.2), 4×4 Utes (11.6) and Medium Cars (9.3).
The biggest-growth segments were Medium Cars (up 53 per cent), Upper Large Cars (up 25.5 per cent), Light Vans (up 23.5 per cent), Medium Vans (up 22.6 per cent) and People Movers (up 21.1 per cent).
The worst-performing segments were Micro Cars (down 46.1 per cent), Small Cars (down 14.9 per cent), 4×4 utes (down 14 per cent) and Light Cars (down 11.4 per cent).
Business, government and rental sales all grew in December, while private sales fell — belying the annualised trend.
More locally made cars (11,643) were registered in December than Korean-made ones (11,138) for the first time in a long, long time. Japan (28,934), Thailand (22,573) and Germany (6628) were the other major sources.
Source: 
Toyota Camry dominates:: VFACTS December sales, Australian-made back on top
