Mazda grabs second place in sales race

MAZDA appears to have eclipsed rival Holden to take second place in the January sales race and close the gap on market leader Toyota in hot summer sales.

Official industry VFACTS sales figures out tomorrow are expected to confirm that Toyota’s sales were down almost 10 per cent last month in a hangover from the Japanese company’s zero per cent finance sales blitz at the end of 2012.

Sales of the locally made Camry fell by more than half over January last year, down from 1290 in January 2012 to about 557 last month.

This contributed to Toyota’s sales slip to 13,374 vehicles in January, compared with 14,817 for the corresponding month last year.

But Mazda sales jumped about 23 per cent last month, to about 8912 vehicles, 101 units in front of Holden’s 8811 vehicles, despite the GM subsidiary’s 5.0 per cent sales gain on the back of heavy TV retail advertising.

It is the third time that Mazda has grabbed second place on a monthly sales table, having down it twice before in 2012.

From top: Toyota Corolla Mazda2.

Mazda was one of several importers to make big gains, with Nissan’s sales climbing 48 per cent to 7202 vehicles and Volkswagen’s sales volumes climbing 57 per cent to 3814 units.

Ford managed to increase sales via imports such as the Focus and Fiesta, but its locally made Falcon continued in the doldrums, with about 779 sales – less than the tally of the rival Holden Commodore (1655).

Mazda’s ever-popular Mazda3 small car comfortably took the sales crown in January, ahead of a pair of imported Toyotas – Corolla (2960) and HiLux (2747).