Ford retains leadership

Press, 25 November 1982, Page 23

Ford retains leadership

Ford retained its over-all leadership in a plummeting new-car market in October. The Post Office reported 5808 new registrations during the month and that was the worst figure in 22 months. Only two models improved over the previous month. The Toyota Corolla climbed from No. 10, with 258 sales, to No. 2 with 412 sales in October. The Datsun Sunny, with 310 sales, finished No. 8 on the October list. It had not featured in September’s top 10. The Sunny is, presumably, the new front-drive Nissan Sunny launched recently and although no information is available at this juncture, it seems likely that Aucklandbased Nissan Motor Distributors (N.Z.), 1975, Ltd, has been able to bring the new model into the top 10 by enjoying some fleet sales. At the press launch of the -Nissan Sunny in Rotorua not long ago, Nissan Motor Distributors’ general marketing manager, Peter Farmer, predicted that Sunny sales would run at 350 a month for the first three months. Taking into account the state of the car market, the Auck-land-based distributor is probably more than happy. Fleet sales could also account for the Corolla’s meteoric rise from eighth to second on the sales list. The Corolla was not even among August’s top 10.

Positions at the end of October, with September registrations in parentheses, were: 'Ford Laser 484 (515), Toyota Corolla .412 (258), Ford Cortina 408.(481), Honda Civic 393 (399), Mitsubishi

Sigma 381 (463), Honda Accord 335 (429), Mitsubishi Mirage 325 (396), Datsun Sunny 310 (-), GM Commodore 258 (269), Mitsubishi Lancer 196 (-). So Ford has 18 per cent of the October market, with 1044 cars registered, heading off Toyota by the slender margin of eight cars. Toyota, with 17.8 per cent of the market, was more than 100 ahead of Todd which, with

931 registered, claimed a 16 per cent market share. Up to the end of October, Ford had 6637 Lasers and 6283 Cortinas registered so far this year. The GM Commodore came as the next model with 5719, but that might not be a true reflection because the Commodore is marketed in four, six and eight-cylinder versions, the four-cylinder car, of course, being the dominant version.