Australian Carmakers Forecast 1 Million Sales for 2012

Australian carmakers are forecasting that the industry will hit one million unit sales in 2012. However, the bulk of the sales will be small cars based on changing consumer preference.

From 1996 to 2010, the locally manufactured Holden Commodore was the best selling car in Australia. However, in 2011, it was displaced by the Mazda3.

Ian Chalmers, chief executive officer of the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries, said the Holden would likely not regain the top spot it enjoyed for 14 years.

"The market is being driven by lifestyle choices that consumers are making. The clear preference for consumers is towards small, economical city vehicles likes the Mazda3, and for SUVs. SUVs are replacing the big family six as the new family car, that is the trend," Car Advice quoted Mr Chalmers.

While the Hilden Commodore dropped to second place, another top seller - Ford Falcon - tumbled down to ninth place after the model posted its weakest result in its five decades history. Falcon's sales plummeted 36.5 per cent to only 18,741 units compared to 73,200 units in 2003.

As a result, in 2011, only one in 13 vehicles in Australia was a large car compared to one in four vehicles a decade ago. The Mazda3, Toyota Corolla and Holden Cruze comprise 24.2 per cent of all new vehicles sold in 2011 in Australia.

To help revive the car manufacturing industry in Australia, one of the 13 countries that can manufacture a vehicle from scratch starting from design, to engineering and production, Minister of Manufacturing Kim Carr led a mission to Detroit. The minister is scheduled to meet with executives of General Motors and Ford on Monday just before the Detroit motor show. The local carmaking industry employs directly and indirectly 59,000 people.

Mr Carr said the mission to Detroit aims to restate the Australian government's commitment to the country's automotive industry and to attract new investments.

"The investment decisions being made today will affect cars rolling off production lines in 2015 and 2016 and in the second half of the decade," the minister told The Sydney Morning Herald.