TheMarket

ENDING 2020 ON A POSITIVE NOTE

HIGHLIGHTS

Instead of laying down and giving up on a year in which ‘rough’ doesn’t quite do justice, the new-car market worked hard to make up for the lack of sales during Australia’s lockdown period. December 2020 saw more cars sold than December 2019 (84,239), though the year’s total didn’t manage to crack seven figures, settling at 916,968 sales. Many of Australia’s most popular models had strong individual sales through December, particularly compared with the same time in 2019.

LOWLIGHTS

Fortune for some brands is frustration for others, and while Toyota (and Ford’s Ranger) dominated the top of the model chart all year, brands like Mazda and Hyundai that command significant market share were unable to break onto the top rungs of the ladder. Still, Mazda held its market share steady at 9.3 percent (9.2 in 2019), but Hyundai lost one point to claim 7.1 percent.