Ever wondered what the most popular cars in Australia are? A big story of the last decade has been that of the steady rise of Toyota.

It seems car buyers today are after small, fuel efficient vehicles offered by them and other manufacturers such as Mazda.

Based on figures from drive.com.au, from January to June 2002, new car sales looked as follows:

  1. Holden Commodore – 88478
  2. Ford Falcon – 54,629
  3. Toyota Corolla – 34,948
  4. Toyota Camry – 30,592
  5. Holden Astra – 29,536
  6. Toyota HiLux – 21,258
  7. Mitsubishi Magna – 21,258
  8. Mitsubishi Lancer – 18646,
  9. Ford Falcon Ute – 17,883
  10. Nissan Pulsar – 16,258

In 2013, the list looked like this:

  1. Toyota Corolla – 43,498
  2. Mazda 3 – 42,082
  3. Toyota HiLux – 39,931
  4. Hyundai i30 – 30,582
  5. Holden Commodore – 27,766
  6. Toyota Camry – 24,860
  7. Mitsubishi Triton – 24,512
  8. Holden Cruze – 24,421
  9. Nissan Navara – 24,108
  10. Ford Ranger – 21,752

In 2013, Toyota sold 214,630 vehicles, which is down 1.6% from the previous year but still double its second placed rival, Holden, which sold 112,059 vehicles. Locally made cars have well and truly taken a back seat to imports in Australia.