Did the announcement that car manufacturing will cease in Australia early in 2014 have an effect on the car buying public? It's a bit early to tell, but looking at the sales figures for 2014 there is some interesting shuffling in the winners and losers group with European prestige brands experiencing significant growth. The Toyota Corolla still holds the crown for best selling car.
Clearly, the rich keep getting richer with Bentley up 11.6%, Aston Martin up 8.1%, Maserati up 199% (from 134 cars in 2013) and Rolls-Royce up 143%.
Winners
Alfa Romeo — up 5.3 per cent
Aston Martin — up 8.1 per cent
Audi — up 20.1 per cent
Bentley — up 11.6 per cent
BMW — up 10.7 per cent
Citroen — up 10.8 per cent
Ferrari — up 6.6 per cent
Fiat — up 49.4 per cent
Hyundai — up 3.1 per cent
Jaguar — up 5.6 per cent
Jeep — up 37.2 per cent
Land Rover — up 21.0 per cent
Lexus — up 1.2 per cent
Maserati — up 199 per cent
Mercedes-Benz — up 15.8 per cent
Mini — up 1.4 per cent
Porsche — up 47.6 per cent
Renault — up 42.7 per cent
Rolls-Royce — up 143 per cent
Skoda — up 8.4 per cent
Subaru — up 0.8 per cent
Losers
Ford — down 8.6 per cent
Great Wall — down 56.8 per cent
Holden — down 5.3 per cent
Honda — down 15.9 per cent
Kia — down 6.0 per cent
Lamborghini — down 42.6 per cent
Lotus — down 14.1 per cent
Mazda — down 2.4 per cent
Mitsubishi — down 4.0 per cent
Nissan — down 14.0 per cent
Peugeot — down 0.4 per cent
Suzuki — down 21.1 per cent
Toyota — down 5.2 per cent
Volkswagen — down 0.2 per cent
Volvo — down 9.3 per cent
Top 10 cars in 2014
Toyota Corolla 43,735 — up 0.5 per cent
Mazda3 43,313 — up 2.9 per cent
Toyota HiLux 38,126 — down 4.5 per cent
Hyundai i30 31,505 — up 3.0 per cent
Holden Commodore 30,203 — up 8.8 per cent
Ford Ranger 26,619 — up 22.3 per cent
Mitsubishi Triton 24,256 — down 1.0 per cent
Toyota Camry — 22,044 down 11.3 per cent
Mazda CX-5 21,571 — up 7.2 per cent
Volkswagen Golf 19,545 — up 10.6 per cent
Top 10 brands in 2014
Toyota 203,501 — down 5.2 per cent
Holden 106,092 — down 5.3 per cent
Mazda 100,704 — down 2.4 per cent
Hyundai 100,011 — up 3.1 per cent
Ford 79,703 — down 8.6 per cent
Mitsubishi 68,637 — down 4.0 per cent
Nissan 66,025 — down 14.0 per cent
Volkswagen 54,801 — down 0.2 per cent
Subaru 40,502 — up 0.8 per cent
Honda 32,998 — down 15.9 per cent
Source: Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries