Toyota seals sales lead

[Daz]

AS petrol costs hit consumers, the Toyota Corolla drove to number one car position last month, beating Holden's Commodore and helping the company establish a commanding lead halfway through the 2006 sales race.

The Corolla's well-known name and the swing away from large cars have already boosted its sales this year, but dealers say Toyota quietly slashed 17 per cent – or up to $3500 – off Corolla showroom prices in June.

The result was a 26.5 per cent share of June's booming small car market and top-selling spot for the Corolla, which beat the country's traditional bestseller, the Holden Commodore, by 900 sales.

The Corolla is well placed to take advantage of changes in car-buying habits, with people favouring small cars over large cars given a sharp rise in petrol prices.

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Toyota denies discounting the ageing Corolla, which is due to be replaced by an all-new model tenth-generation model midway through next year.

"Some of our dealers might be giving large discounts, but we aren't involved," Toyota spokesman Mike Breen said. "We ran our normal June end-of-financial-year campaign but that was the only sale we had on at that time."

The only factory offer on Corollas in June was three years' roadside assistance and a $140 price reduction for superceded models with manual windows, Mr Breen said.

But motor traders say Toyota cut $3500 from the Corolla's $19,990 base price in a June sales offensive supported by factory assistance for Toyota dealers.

"Dealers are only making about $400 on every Corolla," a new car salesperson told The Australian. "That's not enough money to run a business on, but you'll find Toyota is giving them another $1200 in trade assistance. Toyota are not the only guys offering assistance, but they do it better than anybody else."

The director of car-buying agent Privatefleet, David Lye, said Toyota dealers were freely offering discounts of $3500 on most Corolla models.

"In terms of percentage the Corolla is the most spectacular discount we're able to get," he said, with a manual transmission Corolla Ascent about $20,500 including on-road costs.

"Toyota is very aggressive and they are pushing a lot at the Corolla. We're currently getting about $3500 off, which for a car with a $20,000 retail price is pretty considerable."

Disguised discounting was a longstanding Toyota tactic, the principal of automotive fleet consultant Sureplan, Tony Robinson, said.

"Toyota do things subtly. Unless you've been knocking on the door of a dealer you wouldn't know that Corolla is in run-out mode and has been heavily discounted," he said. "Money is not being cast visibly in the marketplace, which is important to protect residual values – and Corolla residuals are still holding up strongly."

Mr Lye said the Corolla was well placed to take advantage of changes in car-buying habits.

"The other element is fuel prices. They're pushing people towards small cars and that's well in the Corolla's favour," he said.

Sydney Toyota dealer Phil McCarroll denied slashing Corolla prices and said private buyers trading in large cars had driven record sales for the small car.

"I couldn't believe the number of Commodore-type vehicles being traded," he said. "It seems the petrol thing might really be biting."

With 104,619 vehicles sold in the first half – including 22,847 Corollas – Toyota is Australia's best-selling brand this year by a huge margin, commanding a 22 per cent market share and leading second-placed Holden by more than 30,000 vehicles at the halfway mark.

Of the 5912 Corollas sold in June, 55 per cent went to private buyers although fleet business was supported by a five-fold increase in rental sales. The 2650 fleet and business sales included 1110 rental cars, with a single order from Hertz accounting for 550. That pushed rental sales to five times the May figure and more than double a typical month.

The Corolla previously topped the sales charts last September, when its 4950 sales beat the Commodore by 99.

http://finance.news.com.au/story/0,10166,1...532-462,00.html

[c2105026]

I find it disconcerting that a) car buying will shift towards small cars due to environmental awareness, high petrol prices in the short term and social trends, and B) Australia does not build any small cars. GM, toyota and ford need to get assembly lines for the astra, focus and corolla up and running here if there is to be any local auto industry by 2025. Hey, they could rename the astra 'gemini'...

Edited July 12, 2006 by c2105026

[Azza]

Hey, they could rename the astra 'gemini'...

Please no......

I love the idea of small cars, especially around the city areas.

The one thing I'd be bearing in mind though when reading about Toyota's sales lead, is that they sell bucketloads of their Corollas in fleet.....

[76ACC]

Hey, they could rename the astra 'gemini'...

Please no......

I love the idea of small cars, especially around the city areas.

The one thing I'd be bearing in mind though when reading about Toyota's sales lead, is that they sell bucketloads of their Corollas in fleet.....

The man speaks the truth!! Mazda is leading the retail car market I believe... 1000's of fleet cars really screw with resale value as well.

Edited July 14, 2006 by 76ACC

[Conquest]

The one thing I'd be bearing in mind though when reading about Toyota's sales lead, is that they sell bucketloads of their Corollas in fleet.....

Yeah but so do Commodore & Falcon.

Screw resale, it might affect trade-in values but as a private buyer I wouldn't touch an ex-fleet car...