Commodore thrashes Falcon in October sales

[adrenaline]

Commodore thrashes Falcon in October sales, Falcon also beaten by CAMRY.

The Holden Commodore has recorded its best sales month of 2006, and it has been achieved at the expense of Ford’s Falcon, reports JEZ SPINKS for Drive.

Originally Posted by Drive

Holden’s Commodore is continuing its fight to revive Australia’s large-car market with the all-new VE, but Ford’s rival Falcon has slipped farther down the popularity rankings.

The Commodore’s sales total of 5455, released today in official industry figures for October, is a second consecutive record month for Holden’s large car, improving slightly on September’s result - the first full month on sale for the new VE model.

More significantly, the Commodore’s result was not far off doubling that of the Ford Falcon, which recorded 2945 sales. This is the biggest sales gap this year between the two rivals, giving Commodore a huge 53.1 per cent share of the large-car market – its best result since October 2002.

Falcon’s 27.7 market share for October still kept the Ford in second place, but the car lost another place in the best-sellers table after it was outsold not only by the Toyota Corolla (3722 sales) but also, for the first time in 2006, the four-cylinder Toyota Camry (3046).

The Corolla has squeezed the Falcon out of its traditional sales runners-up spot for most of the year, but Ford will be surprised to have seen its large car slip to fourth place in October’s results.

Ford Australia says Falcon’s October transition from BF to updated BFII model didn’t help matters but that the result was still unacceptable.

“Essentially, with Falcon, we should have done better,” says Ford Australia spokesperson Sinead McAlary. “The large-car market was still there and the other guys got their fair share. It’s something we’re aware of, and we’re looking at it.

“We had a decent month for Focus, Territory, and Falcon ute versus Commodore ute, but we just didn’t get the job done with Falcon.

“Our share of the large-car market in October isn’t acceptable for us,” continues McAlary, “and we’ll be doing what we need to do to ensure it doesn’t happen again. We’ll have to be more aggressive now for the rest of the year and going into next year.”

Today’s October sales results coincided with Ford Australia’s announcement to its employees that a voluntary redundancy package was available for up to 600 staff.

McAlary says the redundancy offer is linked to the company’s recent decision to reduce local production from mid-November.

Holden, meanwhile, said it was too early to predict whether Commodore’s result signalled a long-term return to form for the large-car segment, which is down 19.8 per cent year on year.

“[Our] results are again solid, and market share is certainly higher,” says company spokesperson Jason Laird. “And [Commodore] is up 11.2 per cent year on year.

“We built the best possible car [VE Commodore] we could, to see what the market reaction is to it, but we’re not going to make bold forecasts at this point. But it’s a pleasing result given the market conditions.

“Trends build over time, but things are pointing in the right direction.”

Toyota’s new rival for the Commodore and Falcon, the Aurion, only went on sale in October, so its 343 sales for the month don’t offer a significant indicator of how the Camry-based V6-powered car will fare in the large-car segment.

It certainly didn't stop Toyota from retaining its formidable lead at the top of the manufacturers' table, with three top five cars - Corolla (2nd), Camry (3rd) and Yaris (5th) - contributing to the company's best October sales result for 16 years.

Toyota, which has sold 175,952 vehicles so far in 2006 for a 21.9 per cent market share, says it is on course for an all-time record sales year in Australia.

"The new Camry continues to exceed expectations after its first full two months of sale," says David Buttner, Toyota Australia's senior executive director of sales and marketing. "Corolla continues to set the pace for small cars, [plus there were] continued strong sales of Yaris."

"We are confident Toyota will exceed last year's total of 202,817 sales by a healthy margin," says Buttner.

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Top 10 best-selling vehicles in Australia, October 2006:

1. Holden Commodore 5455
2. Toyota Corolla 3722
3. Toyota Camry (4cyl) 3046
4. Ford Falcon 2945
5. Toyota Yaris 2858
6. Mazda3 2585
7. Hyundai Getz 1594
8. Ford Focus 1584
9. Holden Astra 1575
10. Ford Territory 1349

It's good to see the VE doing well in the marketplace. But Camry beating Falcon... Major disturbance in the force

I always like seeing the Focus toppling the Astra.

The 380 isn't even up there

It's going to be interesting to see where Aurion slots in.

[Street_Dreamer]

i love the Commodore and i reckon the Aurion will go in around the Yaris because not so many old people will buy it

[adrenaline]

What does old people have to do with Aurion sales?

[Street_Dreamer]

Originally Posted by ADRENALINE

What does old people have to do with Aurion sales?

nothing. it has a lot to do with Corolla sales tho hehe

[SlickHolden]

Aurion will kill off 4cylnder camry sales. I stood next too a 4cyl camry last night with my mum and turned too her too say that thing sounded really shit that engine note was terrible, When she said too me that car sounded really funny.

[acfsambo]

dont forget though that those sales include fleet buyers. If fleet sales were not included the corolla would be number 1.

[nota]

Originally Posted by ADRENALINE

[SIZE="5"]The 380 isn't even up there

According to Holden's head of sales & marketing:

Originally Posted by Alan Batey

Mitsubishi right now is on very low volumes. [In September, it] sold under 1000 380s, of which only 37 were sold to retail customers, so most of that was fleet and rental.

[blingbling]

Pardon the ignorance, but has the Falcon always topped the Commodore in sales or something?

[syko]

Originally Posted by blingbling

Pardon the ignorance, but has the Falcon always topped the Commodore in sales or something?

Not since the mid 90's but its always easly been 2nd beating 3rd by many thousands of sales and was closer to the commodore sales.

All I can say is i'm glad the focus is finally selling better it deserves too be much higher on that list.

[nota]

Originally Posted by syko

All I can say is i'm glad the focus is finally selling better it deserves too be much higher on that list.

At under $18k the Focus 2.0 is very sharply priced and deserves to sell

[caz_375]

Originally Posted by acfsambo

dont forget though that those sales include fleet buyers. If fleet sales were not included the corolla would be number 1.

I don't know about that.....the Corolla does quite a bit of business with the government, particularly the Health Department that i know of. And from all i've read on the internet, the Commodore is no longer such a competitive deal for the fleet market.

[2ndclasscitizen]

The ACT government loves the good ol' Corolla for it's fleet.

I'm predicting when the Aurion goes on sale 4cyl Camry sales drop, with a slight drop in Falcon and Commodore sales, but I think the 4 cyl Camry will lose out the most. I just can't see the Aurion cannabilising that many Falcon and Commodore sales.

[motorsportnerd]

Originally Posted by caz_375

I don't know about that.....the Corolla does quite a bit of business with the government, particularly the Health Department that i know of. And from all i've read on the internet, the Commodore is no longer such a competitive deal for the fleet market.

With its historically poor resale, Commodore isn't that appealing to most private buyers either - unless we're talking HSV, SS or Calais versions which have slightly better resale.
As to the most popular car once fleet sales are taken out? This article from a few months ago may help: http://www.drive.com.au/Editorial/Ar...ID=19729&vf=13.

Top selling cars amongst private sellers are Toyota Corolla, Mazda3 and Toyota Yaris.
Its worth noting that in the early months of both the VE and the Camry, there will probably be a few more sales to private buyers - especially of the luxury and sports versions of the VE. But I'd be surprised if either challenged the Corolla for the number 1 spot amongst private buyers.

[HSVLVR]

Ha ha Ford!

[motorsportnerd]

Originally Posted by HSVLVR

Ha ha Ford!

And how does this add to a discussion on sales figures?
Or, should I say, ha ha Holden, Toyota is wiping the floor against them for top selling manufacturer? Such statements are meaningless.