Australians prefer Mercedes over Ford

The sale of cars made in Australia has seen a drop to lowest level in the past 60 years. The number of cars sold is below 100,000, which records highest drop in the number of car sales since 1953.

With the decline in the number of Australia made cars, German car maker Mercedes-Benz now makes more passenger vehicles available for Australians than its competitor Ford. Ford has remained a reputed name as far as building Falcons in Australia since 1960 is concerned. The sales of Lamborghini has recorded a three fold increase since last year.

Affordability, good performance, high level choice and comfort attributes were the factors that encouraged sale of vehicles in Australia in 2015. The nation purchased around 1,555,408 new passengers cars and commercial vehicles last year, The Chronicle reports. Toyota was reported to be a top selling brand in 2015 with 17.8 percent market share, while Mazda acquired second spot with 9.9 percent, followed by Holden with 8.9 percent.

Total number of Ford passenger cars sold in 2015 was 19,817, as revealed by the VFACTS data released by the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries. Ford’s Falcon has won 15 times at Bathurst and has been regarded as the highest-selling car in Australian history. In spite of declined sale of vehicles, Ford managed to sell 5,968 Falcon passenger cars in 2015.

Mercedes-Benz Australia Chief Executive Horst Von Sanden said the numbers were better for the company this time. “A decade ago, if you suggested we would beat the Falcon with C-Class, that would have been a little far-fetched,” Sanden said as quoted by the Sydney Morning Herald . “But there are several factors at play. First, the whole market is strong, but the market for luxury and prestige cars is very strong. Second, Australian consumers are happy to stretch the budget a bit more to buy a prestige car.”