Leader of the pack

Who's our favourite carmaker? ALASTAIR SLOANE finds only a few cylinders separate the Big Three.

The new vehicle sales race for 2001 ended as most industry analysts predicted: Toyota first, Ford second and Holden third.

But it came down to the wire in December, when Ford recorded its best sales month for more than 10 years as it tried to unseat long-time market leader Toyota.

Toyota sold 1730 vehicles and Ford 1678 for 49.1 per cent of the market for the month, or nearly five out of every 10 sales.

Add Holden's 18.7 per cent share in a buoyant December and the big three dominated sales with 67.8 per cent.

New vehicles sales overall in 2001 totalled 74,720, up about 1 per cent, or 766 sales, on the previous year, according to Land Transport Safety Authority figures.

Toyota, Ford and Holden shared 53.5 per cent of the market for the year.

Toyota finished with sales of 13,750 new vehicles for an 18.4 per cent share. It was Toyota's 14th year in a row as market leader.

Ford sold 13,425 for 18 per cent and Holden 12,772 for 17.1.

But while Toyota and Ford battled it out for their predictably close finish, Holden was the big mover in 2001, continuing a trend it began three years ago.

Sales compared with 2000 were up about 27 per cent for an increased market share of 3.5 per cent. In contrast, Ford's share was up 9.9 per cent and Toyota's 5.2 per cent.

Holden was the most popular nameplate among car buyers - 10,099 passenger cars against 9860 for Ford and 9711 for Toyota.

The bestselling car was the Holden Commodore VX with 6284 sales. The VX, and its predecessor the VT, have been the most popular passenger car in New Zealand every month since August 2000.

Last year was the second time Holden sold more than 6000 Commodores in a model line that began in 1979 with six- and eight-cylinder engines and included four-cylinder models in the 1980s.

Holden has lots to feel good about, said public affairs manager Aalbert van Ham.

The Australian carmaker has made significant gains in the market over the past few years, much of it credited to growth in the rural sector.

In 1999, it sold 7848 vehicles to finish in fourth place with a 10.9 per cent share behind Toyota, Ford and Nissan. Nearly 5000 vehicles separated Holden and Toyota.

Sales increased to just over 10,000 in 2000, when it finished with a 13.6 per cent share to finish in third place, about 3000 vehicles behind Toyota and just over 2000 behind Ford.

Last year it consolidated in third place, trailing Toyota by 978 units and Ford by 653 and leading fourth-placed Nissan by 6605 and fifth-placed Mitsubishi by 9223. Honda finished sixth with 3729 sales, 209 ahead of Mazda. The best of the Europeans was Volkswagen with 1360 sales, followed by BMW with 1136 and Peugeot with 967.

Holden's 17.1 per cent share last year closed the gap on the market leader even further, said van Ham.

"With new arrivals this year including the Monaro, all-new Vectra, Commodore VY (VX update) and some niche market models, we are well placed to continue the challenge and drive for even greater gains," he said.

The market is expected to maintain similar growth to last year and pick up speed towards the middle of the decade.

Toyota's sales and marketing manager, Paul Carroll, said the feature of 2001 was the increased demand for the top three vehicle franchises.

The market was stronger than expected and this augers well for 2002, he said.

"We were caught short of stock for many of our popular models earlier in the year, but we were able to catch up with demand."

Toyota goes into 2002 pushing its new Corolla range, its most popular model.

Later in the year it will launch the new Camry. The Japanese giant continues to dominate New Zealand commercial sales, too - it has been No 1 for the past 21 years, thanks largely to its Hilux range. Last year it sold 4039 units against Ford's 3565 and Holden's 2673. Mitsubishi was fourth with 1866 commercials followed by Mazda with 1306 and Nissan with 1204.

Ford will kick the sales year off with the T-Series Falcons, high-performance models from specialist partner Tickford. The first of the F-series trucks will be available soon. The updated Falcon will arrive later in the year, complete with a new 5.4-litre V8 engine and a more refined 4-litre straight six.

Managing director Nigel Harris said he was thrilled with last year's sales: "The year was great for Ford. All our brands were strong, customer satisfaction is high and 2002 is shaping up to be just as good a year."

* Monthly new vehicle sales figures for 2001: January 5245; February 5243; March 6234; April 4760; May 5856; June 7023; July 6424; August 6475; September 6238; October 7136; November 7159; December 6936.